Ascof: Cough relief sans the risks

WHO would have thought that unassuming plants and herbs that grew in our backyard would be parlayed into a multi-million peso industry one day? Clinical studies proving phytomedicines’ ( or plant- based drugs) efficacy and growing consumer trust and patronage have created a huge market for such natural-based remedies. As a result, big pharmaceutical companies in the Philippines have begun to aggressively develop new products from indigenous sources.

Sales figures, from Lagundibased cough medicines alone, rose from P38 million in 2004 to an astounding P500 million in October 2011. Pascual Laboratories (Pascuallab), the first pharmaceutical company to develop and market the first licensed herbal medicine in the country, accounts for 90 percent of this figure through the Ascof Lagundi brand.

Ascof was the first herbal medicine licensed by the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development and the Department of Science and Technology. It was introduced by Pascuallab in 1996 in collaboration with the National Integrated Research Program of Medicinal Plants, the government institution that undertakes research on herbal plants for medicinal purposes.

The company gives consumers the assurance that only organically-grown and 100 percent natural lagundi leaves are used in the formulation. In fact, it has received several awards, including the Silver Medal 1997 at the 25th International Exhibition of Inventions in Switzerland. It was also given the Rising Star Citation at the Citem’s 1997 Golden Shell Awards.