Manufacturers of hand-sanitising gel and face masks have seen a windfall, with sales doubling over the past month as consumers seek to protect themselves as H1N1 influenza infections rise.
Greater Pharma Co, the country's largest pharmaceutical firm, says sales of its Mybacin hand gel have doubled this month as flu cases in the country approach 600. "The hand-gel market had been quite small but now we are seeing demand grow significantly," said managing director Chernporn Tengamnuay.
The company is now manufacturing 20,000 tubes and 1,000 bottles of Mybacin hand-sanitising gel a month to sell to hospitals and drugstores. With the current high demand, sales are expected to top 100,000 tubes and 3,000 bottles in the next few months, said Mr Chernporn.
"Consumers are becoming more aware of protecting themselves from infection. That's why products for personal hygiene are growing," he said.
"With our own brand, the company is looking at the opportunity to export our products to countries affected by the influenza."
N.N. Skytrade Co has seen sales double and is now running at a full capacity of 1.5 million protective masks a month from its plant in Ramkhamhaeng in Bangkok. It produces masks under its own Hyguard brand and also supplies other makers under original equipment manufacturing (OEM) contracts.
"We have received so many orders that we can't serve them all," said managing director Naporn Kesjaral.
The company will expand production capacity to meet soaring local and export demand, he said. "We have been approached by customers from Japan and the US but we don't have enough capacity right now."
By year-end, the company aims to lift its capacity to 2.5 million masks per month, he said.
Sales of masks and hand gel at the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation (GPO) have also doubled, said managing director Witit Artavatkun.
The agency is also producing 500,000 more doses of the antiviral drug Oseltamivir, the generic name for Tamiflu, to build stocks to 5.5 million, said Mr Witit.
"With the raw materials we have ordered, we have been able to produce another 2 million doses. But so far the number of infection cases has not been as large as we expected earlier."
The organisation has upgraded its facility in Nakhon Pathom to produce vaccines, supported by technology from the World Health Organization (WHO).
The GPO has opened a bid to build a new 1.4-billion-baht facility in Saraburi to make vaccine. "Once the factory is completed in 2011, we will have the capacity to produce more than 60 million doses of vaccine for all Thais," he said.
Meanwhile, doctors see the Public Health Ministry's flu precaution and advice to the public as sufficient, given that H1N1 is no more dangerous than common flu.
Bangkok Hospital Medical Centre CEO Chatree Duangnet said H1N1 can be controlled if patients seek proper medication. "It is a new strain of flu, so the public still don't have that immunity in their bodies that they do against other common flus," said Dr Chatree.
But he cautioned against panic.
"It doesn't mean that we should all stay home. But those who have flu symptoms, regardless of the kind, should be responsible to society by staying home and not spreading the risk to others," he said. To see more of the Bangkok Post, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.bangkokpost.com. Copyright (c) 2009, Bangkok Post, Thailand Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
Copyright (C) 2009, Bangkok Post, Thailand