STERLING OTC DRUG DISTRIBUTION OPERATIONS IN RUSSIA are
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
Executive Summary
STERLING OTC DRUG DISTRIBUTION OPERATIONS IN RUSSIA are scheduled to begin in the spring, Sterling Health announced in a Nov. 17 presentation at the Russian Federation Children's Medical Clinic. The company will launch its European analgesic line Panadol (acetaminophen) through its newly established Russian subsidiary Sterling Health Ltd., A/0 by the end of the first quarter 1994, the company said. The fine introduction will include Panadol Junior and Panadol Baby & Infant. The Sterling Health subsidiary currently employs 21 Russian nationals in sales and marketing positions. The company said it expects to increase this number "significantly" with the opening of local packaging operations in early 1994. Sterling Health has already established warehouse facilities in Moscow and ultimately hopes to manufacture products in Russia. Sterling Health's Russian operations are headed by Sterling Health CIS Operations General Director Adam Sliwowski, PhD, and Sterling Health Ltd. General Director Elena Kekalo. Kekalo, a Russian national, has three years of experience with Sterling Winthrop as a trading representative in the former Soviet Union. George Dooley, commercial and finance director of Sterling Health CIS Operations, has also been assigned to Sterling Health Ltd. to help with the start up of operations. Marketing support for product launches in Russia will include detailing to pharmacies, hospitals and polyclinics. The company expects to begin advertising for the products in the first quarter of 1994. Sterling also announced that it has donated $ 1 mil. worth of OTC products to "alleviate acute shortages" in Russia. The products will be distributed among hospitals and clinics in St. Petersburg and children's hospitals and medical clinics in Moscow. Sterling said it is working on the project with the Russian medical community and Heart-to-Heart, an international medical relief organization. Sterling Health products included in the donation are pain relief products Panadol Junior, Panadol Baby & Infant and Solpadeine (acetaminophen and codeine); a cold relief product, Coldrex; and gastrointestinal products Andrews, Califig and Milk of Magnesia. The company began shipments on Nov. 17. Separately, Sterling Winthrop recently signed on Abbot Mead Vickers/BBDO in London to develop pan-European advertising for the Panadol analgesic line.
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