DR. BEAVER Tamesis
Multinational corporations have been operating in the Philippines for many decades now, some even for a century or more.
And it has been no surprise that these firms have been led by expatriate managers who could (in the beginning, at least) boast of greater experience and exposure to the international aspects of their respective businesses.
Over the years, however, more and more of these firms have “gone local”, hiring Filipino senior managers, at first, then progressively promoting them until they reach the pinnacle of the local corporation, or higher.
For the most part, however, multinational pharmaceutical giants operating in the Philippines continue to be run by foreigners —but no longer so for the local unit of Merck Sharpe and Dohme or MSD (known as Merck and Co. in its home base, the USA).
Meet Dr. Beaver Tamesis, the first ever Filipino to be appointed as MSD Philippines’ managing director since the renowned firm opened shop onshore in the 60s.
And his appointment could not have come at a more challenging time.
Years ago, foreign pharmaceutical firms lorded it over the local medical industry. They had a stranglehold on the market since patients and doctors had few alternatives to the pricey medicines the manufactured or imported.
All that changed with the enactment of the Generics Law in the 90s. All of a sudden, cheaper locally manufactured copies of off-patent drugs were introduced to Filipinos. While skeptical at first, the local market was quickly attracted to the price proposition of cheaper medicines.
“The image of generic drugs have changed dramatically over the last five years,” Tamesis says, describing the landscape he is facing as the head of MSD. “The acceptability among patients has totally changed compared to when I first began my practice.”
TAMESIS is a cardiologist
Tamesis—who is a cardiologist and continues his medical practice to this day— tipped his hat to proponents of the Generics Law, local authorities and local pharmaceutical firms, saying that most patients nowadays often ask whether medicines doctors prescribe them have cheaper generic equivalents.
Generic drugs are, of course, commoditized products and margins for their manufacturers are razor thin. Most multinational firms like MSD—which need to invest billions of dollars in research and development costs to develop new “blockbuster” drugs— deliberately avoid the cutthroat generics market in favor of higher value added drugs which also deliver better profit margins.
“Even the more affluent patients immediately ask: ‘doc, may generic ba nito?’,” Tamesis says. “So this is the environment we are faced with in the pharmaceutical industry.”
But what exactly does it take to be noticed by a multinational firm’s bosses sitting in their headquarters in a faraway country?
In the case of Tamesis, it is a matter of standing out from the crowd by challenging the norms and standing one’s ground.
Tamesis relates one of the first encounters he had with one of MSD’s bosses soon after he was brought into the company, where he asked his employer “Why did you hire me? Because I knew I had very stiff competition at that time.”
“Then he told me that he had actually met me once before. The year before that, this MSD boss had visited the Philippines to assess the local environment, and he said that I came up to him during his meeting with local doctors,” Tamesis says. “Then I went up to him—he’s a tall Brit, 6’2”—and I said to his face: ‘Why are you marketing your drug for antihypertension, which is a much bigger market, for heart failures which is such a tiny piece of the pie?’”
“And that struck him because, apparently, that was the first time he had been confronted like that by someone from the medical profession,” says Tamesis, who soon found himself on the fast track to the top of MSD’s local operations.
However, the view from the top—along with the responsibilities that come with being at the top—is very different from when one is still climbing the corporate ladder. It is especially challenging when one heads a firm in an industry that is as dynamic, as politically charged and as socially sensitive as pharmaceuticals.
After careful assessment and reassessment, Tamesis decided that the best way to take MSD forward in the Philippines is to go back to the roots of his profession and think of how his passion for healing people can help the firm in its business of selling products that heal.
What he did was nothing short of groundbreaking. He separated MSD’s activities into two distinct operations. On one hand are medical representatives from the marketing group who push the firm’s drugs to doctors.
On the other hand are people in the medical group whose only job is to help doctors take care of their patients through closer monitoring and better education, with absolutely no effort to push MSD’s products.
Two separate groups going in the same direction, but separated by a “Chinese wall.”
The result is a win-win situation for all stakeholders.
“Instead of getting three months [worth of incomplete usage of medicines by the patient] we now get nine months,” Tamesis says. “And the satisfaction rating on their part is very high. They’re very happy to actually sit down and consult with someone over the phone.”
The key he says was partnering with a large drugstore chain like Mercury Drug whose staffers took care of enrolling the buyers of medicines in a MSD-supervised health monitoring program without pushing any specific brand.
“Two years of struggle to get doctors on board the program and all I get is 400 patients? This is B.S.,” he says. “It turns out that Mercury Drug was the key, because doctors don’t have the time to monitor patients closely.”
So far, this innovative solution is working well for MSD. And to think, Tamesis is only five months into his job as its local head. If the recent past is any indication of the future, MSD’s local operations—and the local pharmaceutical firm—are in for exciting times.
And Tamesis’ parting words are appropriate to the competitive landscape the company faces: “We do things not because they’re easy but because they’re hard.”