1. OTC bulletin 07 October 2016
OTC BUSINESS STRATEGY
20
There is a strong appetite
for self-care in the UK,
according to Bayer’s
Alex Moscho, and it is
crucial that consumers are
given the ingredients to
satisfy that desire, whether
that be information,
products or technology.
Matt Stewart reports
on how Bayer intends
to deliver.
“W
e know from the recent
Brexit debate that there
is a strong feeling that
more money should go
into the UK’s National Health Service (NHS)
to safeguard its current funding and delivery
model,” points out Alex Moscho, chief execu-
tive officer of Bayer UK and Ireland.
“What we also know is that people are aware
of the role personal responsibility takes in re-
maining healthy,” he adds. “So the effective
empowerment of people to self-care for self-
treatable conditions would not only serve in-
dividual purposes, but also allow the NHS to
focus resources on areas and conditions where
they can really make a difference.”
Speaking to OTC bulletin as Bayer makes
public its findings on public attitudes to health-
care in the UK, Moscho points out that while
47% of the 2,060 people questioned said they
believed that free healthcare at the point of need
was too important a principle to change, the
same number felt it was inevitable that they may
have to pay for some NHS services in the future.
However, the survey results also showed
that there still exists opportunities to take the
pressure off NHS resources by placing more
responsibility on individuals to self-manage
their health.
“I was pleasantly surprised by the appetite
for self-care that emerged,” Moscho says, “pro-
vided people were given the right tools at the
right price.”
“Many people feel comfortable in manag-
ing everyday self-treatable conditions like coughs
and colds themselves,” he adds, “particularly
when they are confident in recognising the symp-
toms and have successfully treated them using
an OTC product before.”
57 million doctors visits
“Yet, despite this apparent willingness to
self-care, each year an estimated 57 million
people visit their general practitioner (GP)
and 3.7 million people visit the accident and
emergency department of their local hospital,
for symptoms that could be self-treated with
products widely available in community phar-
macies, large pharmacy chains and supermar-
kets,” Moscho points out.
NHS resources are already stretched to the
limit, he says, but empowering people to self-
care for self-treatable conditions will not only
enable individuals to get fast and effective relief,
but also help the NHS to focus resources on
treating serious conditions.
The survey findings clearly show that doc-
tors remained a key source of healthcare infor-
mation, with 32% of those questioned saying a
doctor was their first port of call for a health-
related query (see Figure 1), beaten only by
the internet, which 44% of people said was their
first-choice information source.
There was a clear generational split in the
popularity of doctors and the internet, the survey
found, with 56% of all 18-24 year olds listing
the internet as their first choice compared to just
29% of those aged 65 and over.
By contrast, almost half – 49% – of those
aged 65 and over said they would seek the
advice of a doctor first, compared to just 14%
of 18-24 year olds.
More worryingly, only 9% of people ques-
tioned selected the pharmacist as their first
choice to get help or advice when experiencing
a health problem.
“There is a clear need for more to be done
at a national level to help drive long-term be-
Bayer to drive self-care push

2. 07 October 2016 OTC bulletin
BUSINESS STRATEGY OTC
havioural change,” Moscho insists, “and the
OTC industry has a key role to play in making
this cultural shift happen.”
One of the “biggest opportunities and chal-
lenges”, he insists, is finding optimal ways to
support education and confidence for better
levels of self-care. Bayer intends to find the
solutions to these challenges, he adds, so that
it can exploit the opportunity.
Better and more readily accessible infor-
mation for patients about minor conditions and
about the tools available to self-care needs to
be developed, he states. At the same time, so-
lutions need to be provided that encourage all
healthcare professionals to support appropriate
self-care behaviour at every point of contact.
“This will serve to build confidence in car-
ing for yourself and your family,” Moscho claims,
“and is a key area of focus for Bayer at a UK
and global level.”
Looking at how best to drive more people
into pharmacy to ease pressure on doctors, Mos-
cho says that pharmacy education and training
is a “crucial part of Bayer’s strategy”.
“Pharmacy teams need fully to understand
the consumer benefits. They need to believe in
OTC products or services, and drive positive
changes in consumer behaviour,” he states.
Only a small number of people see the phar-
macy as the right destination when
they are experiencing a symptom of
some kind, Moscho maintains. This
is despite 45% of people admitting that
they had been prescribed something
by their doctor which the pharmacist
had told them was available without
a prescription (see Figure 2).
“They could have saved themselves a visit
to the surgery,” Moscho says, “and Bayer’s
investment in this area aims to do just that.”
“We want to bring to life the insights that
will not only give pharmacy professionals the
confidence to make appropriate recommend-
ations,” Moscho insists, “but also to make phar-
macy staff be seen by consumers as authorities
and bearers of informed advice so consumers
return again and again.”
Bayer is embracing the digital revolution to
engage with all consumer age groups, Moscho
says, not just the millennials that favour the in-
ternet, but also the older generations who are
becoming more aware of how to get the best
out of new technologies.
“We’re working hard to ensure our online
platforms are robust,” he explains, “and able
to give consumers confidence. Consumers
need to believe they are fully informed about
OTC healthcare products when making their
purchasing decisions.”
“Furthermore, Bayer is investing heavily
in emerging digital technologies,” Moscho points
out. “Our global Grants4Apps initiative supports
innovative healthcare start-ups and developer
teams around the world,” he adds. “To date,
more than 30 grants have been awarded via this
initiative to a range of software, hardware, and
systems that improve health outcomes either
indirectly – through the support of processes
at pharmacies – or directly.”
One area of healthcare technology which
may play a crucial role in improving self-care
adoption rates is self-testing kits and health
monitors, Moscho points out.
The survey shows that 75% of people would
use a self-testing kit or monitor (see Figure 3).
However, out of all those that would use a
self-testing kit or monitor, only a third said they
would then source medication from a pharmacy
rather than wait for a doctor’s appointment.
The remaining two-thirds said
they would use a self-testing kit or
monitor and would only visit a doc-
tor if the kit or monitor highlighted
a problem or if they needed to get
a prescription.
Only 15% of people would nev-
er use a self-testing kit or monitor
and would prefer to wait for an appointment
with a doctor.
Again there was a clear generational split,
with 23% of over 65s saying they would nev-
er use a self-testing kit or monitor, compared
to just 5% of 18-24 year olds.
Moscho says the “increasing willingness to
self-diagnose” is driven by the “empowerment
of consumers to do so via the availability of
resources and information that give them the
Figure 3: (Source – Bayer)
I would use a self-testing kit or monitor and source medication from 75%
a pharmacy rather than wait for a doctor, or I would use a self-testing
kit or monitor, and only see a doctor if it highlighted a problem or if I
needed a prescription
I would use a self-testing kit or monitor, and only see a doctor if it 52%
highlighted a problem or if I needed a prescription
I would use a self-testing kit or monitor and source medication from a 23%
pharmacy, rather than wait for a doctor
I would never use a self-testing kit or monitor and would wait for a doctor 15%
Don’t know 10%
Imagine that some self-testing
kits and monitors were available
at low costs or were free.
Which of the following best
describes your opinion on using
a self-testing kit or monitor at
home to diagnose symptoms?
Yes 45%
Yes, sometimes 39%
Yes, often 6%
No, never 48%
Don’t know 7%
Have you ever been prescribed
something by the doctor, which
the pharmacist has then told
you is available without
a prescription (OTC)?
Figure 2: (Source – Bayer)
Internet 44%
Doctor 32%
Pharmacist 9%
Friends/family 7%
National Health Service helplines 7%
None of the above 2%
Which of the following would
you go to first to find out
information about a
particular symptom that
you were experiencing?
Figure 1: (Source – Bayer)
21
“ We want to bring to life the
insights that will give pharmacy
professionals the confidence to make
appropriate recommendations ”

3. OTC bulletin 07 October 2016
OTC BUSINESS STRATEGY
22
required confidence”.
“For Bayer, this goes much further than
the product offering,” he insists. “The focus is
on providing support via in-store and online
education and advice.”
“For example, the empowerment of women
is, and will continue to be, a key focus for both
the Canesten brand and Bayer,” Moscho adds.
“Canesten is the UK’s number-one brand
in women’s intimate health and is so much more
than just a treatment for thrush,” Moscho claims.
“The brand covers the entire women’s intimate-
health category – thrush, cystitis, feminine
hygiene, vaginal dryness and bacterial vagi-
nosis – including the Canestest self-testing
kit to support diagnosis.”
This self-test kit – launched in 2015 (OTC
bulletin, 11 September 2015, page 18) – was
the UK’s first OTC device to help consumers
self-diagnose vaginal conditions such as bacte-
rial vaginosis, trichomoniasis or thrush.
The test’s swab applicator indicates within
10 seconds the type of infection through a change
in colour. It detects changes in vaginal pH levels
with“morethan90%accuracy”sothatconsumers
can “confidently select the right treatment”.
Canesten’s web presence also backs up the
product offering, Moscho adds, with a web-
site that enables women to self-diagnose by
means of an online questionnaire. The brand
website also offers a “knowledge hub” provid-
ing advice and information on all aspects on
women’s intimate health.
Bayer’s work making Canesten a trusted
source for women seeking advice on intimate
healthissuesisanexample,Moschosays,ofhow
the company intends to continue to grow its
consumer healthcare business in the UK.
“Although we don’t break down our sales
by country, Bayer is the number-three OTC busi-
nessintheUK,whichisaconsumerhealthmarket
worth £2.7 billion (C3.0 billion),” he points
out. “Globally, we are the second-biggest pro-
vider of consumer health products.”
Driven by solutions – such as the ones Bayer
provides with the Canesten brand – that “help
consumers to lead better lives”, the business
is performing ahead of market projections in
the UK, Moscho says, and is “committed to
continuing that growth trajectory”. OTC
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Canestest
Bayer UK and Ireland’s key OTC brands