Evidence and education: Probiotics increasingly seen as valuable healthcare tools in South East Asia

02-Oct-2024 - Last updated on 02-Oct-2024 at 02:43 GMT

A better understanding of probiotics allows healthcare practitioners to select specific strains with proven clinical benefits, leading to more targeted and effective treatments. © Getty Images

Probiotics are increasingly valuable components of treatment protocols in South East Asia (SEA), with growing clinical evidence and enhanced education playing pivotal roles, say healthcare professional community platform Docquity and pharmaceutical firm SIT Pharma.

As the demand for probiotics rises, so do the opportunities for healthcare companies to address gaps in knowledge and distribution.

Docquity’s community includes general practitioners, paediatricians, and neonatologists.

Its collaboration with SIT Pharma aims to boost the awareness and use of probiotics among health practitioners in Thailand, with the goal of expanding into more regions within South East Asia.

Science-backed evidence

Over the last two decades, scientific understanding of the gut microbiome has deepened. This brought new evidence that highlighted the importance of probiotics.

SIT Pharma’s duo probiotics Infloran has been available in several countries for more than 40 years. It is a pharmaceutical product containing Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium, the two main genera of bacteria present in healthy human intestines.

“The association of these two strains [Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacterium bifidum] in a single formulation is confirmed by several clinical trials for different therapeutic indications,” said Lucio Beltrami, Sales and Business Development Manager at SIT Pharma.

This rising body of evidence has prompted doctors to view probiotics as more than supplements, recognising their potential in treating and preventing intestinal conditions such as viral and bacterial infections or dysbiosis.

Factors like antibiotic-associated diarrhoea and digestive issues in infants are now leading physicians to prescribe probiotics, especially in paediatrics, where gut health is crucial to overall well-being.

Educational efforts

This partnership, part of a broader five-year agreement, has already doubled SIT Pharma’s reach among healthcare professionals and led to a 31% increase in sales of the product within six months, outpacing the general market growth rate of 15%.

Looking ahead, Docquity plans to expand its efforts throught its Awareness to Advocacy (A2A) Program, which uses omnichannel outreach and scientific education to help healthcare companies engage with doctors and increase product awareness.

Along with partnerships with local distributors, Docquity will continue to help healthcare enterprises engage medical professionals through educational content.

This will enhance decision-making among healthcare professionals across Thailand and South East Asia, said Docquity’s chief commercial officer and general manager, Christophe Meugnier.

Meugnier emphasised the importance of these efforts, stating, “Docquity’s A2A Program equips healthcare professionals with essential medical knowledge to inform their prescriptions, while our commercial capabilities ensure patients have access to crucial products and treatments.”

This educational focus ensures that doctors are not only aware of probiotics but are also able to differentiate between products based on clinical evidence.

As Beltrami pointed out, the biggest misconception in the industry is that “all probiotic products are the same due to limited knowledge around the efficacy and quality of different probiotics.” Therefore, advancing education around specific formulations is key to changing this perception.

In some cases, doctors do not prescribe a specific brand or formulation, but just provide a recommendation to take some probiotics, leaving the patient or pharmacist to choose the product. However, the industry needs to continue advancing education around probiotics so that more doctors look at the clinical results of probiotic products before prescribing them, said Beltrami.

A better understanding of probiotics allows healthcare practitioners to select specific strains with proven clinical benefits, leading to more targeted and effective treatments. This precision in prescribing enhances patient outcomes by addressing the root causes more effectively.

SIT Pharma’s success in Thailand highlights the potential for further expansion across the region. This includes Taiwan and the Philippines, which are also seeing an uptick in probiotic adoption for similar reasons.

Docquity aims to connect with thousands more healthcare professionals over the next five years. By combining local distribution networks with technology-driven educational outreach, both Docquity and SIT Pharma hope to foster greater understanding and use of probiotics across a wider range of healthcare professionals.