Singapore sectors making money from the haze: out-bound travel and pharmacies

This sector is enjoying a haze-related boost in Singapore
Leslie Shaffer CNBC.com 8 Nov 15;

Air pollution from the forest fires in Indonesia may have cast a pall over the region, but one business sector has gotten a boost: travel out of Singapore.

A solid chunk of Singapore's residents looked to escape the worst of the air pollution, colloquially called the haze, in September and October. Travel search website Skyscanner said that searches for outbound travel from Singapore climbed gradually from September 4 - when the city-state's air quality levels started approaching an unhealthy level - and by October 23 were more than 50 percent higher.

Hotels.com saw a similar boost. "From September onwards we've seen an increase in outbound travel in Singapore and Indonesia of over 20 percent month-on-month," Abhiram Chowdhry, managing director for Asia-Pacific for the Hotels.com brand, said via email.

Local travel agency Dynasty Travel also said it saw a boost of about 20 percent year-on-year in September and October in number of travelers heading from Singapore to Europe, Australia, New Zealand and China.

That's even though school exams in October may have kept many Singaporeans at home, noted Alicia Seah, a representative for Dynasty Travel. In 2013, when the worst of the haze coincided with school holidays, the haze-related boost to outbound travel was larger, she said.

Even though the haze is an annual event - Indonesians deliberately set rainforests ablaze to clear land, generally to produce palm oil and paper products - a lack of rain and the El Nino weather system has meant the air pollution caused by the fires has been particularly severe and long-lived this year, covering Southeast Asia in air pollution.

The fires have covered around 2.1 million hectares from June 21-October 20, Indonesia's National Space and Aviation Agency calculated, according to a Nasional newspaper report. By comparison, Singapore itself is only about 70,000 hectares in size.

Singapore was among the hardest-hit in Southeast Asia by the haze and it's also the region's wealthiest country, giving many of its residents greater ability to escape toxic air.

The Pollutant Standards Index, a global gauge of air quality, climbed over 400 in parts of Singapore over the September-to-October period, although so far in November, it's fallen to less-gritty levels, mostely hovering between 50 and 100, according to the National Environment Agency (NEA). A level between 100 and 200 indicates unhealthy air quality, while levels above 300 are considered hazardous.

Lisa Clayton, a director of OzFit/UFit Bootcamps, was among those who headed for the exits in October after about two months of hazy conditions, taking two weeks' holiday on the Indonesian island of Bali, which is less than two hours away from Singapore by air.

"It was a last-minute decision to have a bit of a haze-free break. I can work remotely as well, so it meant I was able to do that," she said, adding that she was concerned about the haze's health effects on both her family and her hired helper.

"It was just becoming extremely difficult with my three young children (under the age of four). Having to occupy them in a tiny space in our condominium was frustrating … They weren't able to run outside and burn off steam."

The areas of Indonesia where the fires are still burning have seen far worse air quality than Singapore. PSI has been over 2,000 in Kalimantan and Sumatra, according to reports.

The emissions from the fires exceed those from fossil fuel emissions in the U.S. on a daily basis, data from the Global Fire Emissions Database showed. The fires have bumped Indonesia up to the fourth-largest emitter globally, up from sixth, over the past six weeks, according to researchers at the World Resources Institute.

Global Forest Watch Fires says there have been more than 127,000 fires in Indonesia so far this year.

The fires, mainly on Kalimantan and Sumatra islands, have killed at least 10 people and more than 500,000 there have suffered respiratory infections, the country's national disaster agency, Badan Nasional Penanggulangan Bencana (BNPB), said in a release on its website in late October. The agency's spokesperson called it "an extraordinary crime against humanity."

In mid-October, after weeks of waffling over the decision, Indonesia accepted Singapore's offer of personnel and equipment to help fight the forest fires. Much of the effort focuses on dropping "water bombs" on burning areas, but because fires are burning through peat land -- or areas with a large, sometimes deep, accumulation of decaying vegetation -- they're unusually difficult to extinguish. Many of these areas have also been drained of water to promote agriculture, making them vulnerable to long-burning fires.


Haze a real money-spinner for pharmacies in Singapore
The volume and variety of medication is on the rise, in response to greater demand
RUMI HARDASMALANI Today Online 10 Nov 15;

SINGAPORE — After more than three months of choking haze, life has pretty much returned to normal for Singaporeans, but for the pharmaceutical companies it is time to augment their therapeutic arsenals as the smoky skies are turning out to be an annual crisis that is causing more people to suffer from respiratory problems.

Multinational pharmaceutical firms are strengthening their respiratory drugs portfolio in the Republic, beefing up new launch plans on top of aggressively pushing existing drugs and other related products for respiratory conditions such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). “Seldom do we see over five companies pushing the same class of medicines at the same time so aggressively. Due to the annual haze episode, the demand for respiratory medication is increasing every passing year as we see more patients turning up at clinics with such conditions,” said Dr Ong Kian Chung, a respiratory medicine specialist who is also the president of COPD Association Singapore.

British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) launched the asthma and COPD medication Relvar in Singapore last month and plans to unveil another inhaler here for COPD named Anoro — already available in several other countries — besides skincare products from its consumer healthcare portfolio.

“GSK is planning to launch other medicines to treat respiratory ailments in Singapore over the next 12 months. We are exploring how we can step-up our outreach to GPs to help ensure they get the most up-to-date guidance on asthma and COPD management. Further, there are derma-products in the consumer healthcare category, which GSK will launch in Singapore for dry and sensitive skin conditions,” said Ms Dipal Patel, general manager, GSK Pharmaceuticals Singapore.

Germany’s Boehringer Ingelheim, which launched the inhaler Striverdi late last year, is understood to be in the process of bringing a new dual-bronchodilator to Singapore.

AstraZeneca, which sells Symbicort inhalers, is also planning to unleash its British-Swedish parents’ respiratory drugs in Singapore soon.

“Among South-east Asian countries, Singapore has the highest number of deaths from asthma. The burden of respiratory disease in Singapore is an ongoing cause for concern, and not just when the haze comes around. Unfortunately, many patients are not being diagnosed or they are not optimally treated. To address the current disease burden in Singapore, AstraZeneca is also enhancing patient and physician education about treating asthma optimally,” said Dr Viraj Rajadhyaksha, medical director of AstraZeneca Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei.

Two other smaller pharmaceutical companies — MundiPharma and Europharma — have stepped up their marketing strategies for inhalers, doctors said. MundiPharma markets Flutiform and Orient, while Europharma sells Foster inhalers. Apart from respiratory medications, products such as skin creams, eye drops and nasal sprays are seeing a surge in demand as environmental disruptions cause heat and dust irritation.

Local MundiPharma and Europharma said they have stocked up on medications to manage increased demand from consumers for symptoms such as sneezing, runny and blocked noses, itchy or sore throats and coughing that become aggravated as the skies get smoky.

“We do see a growth in demand for respiratory products as compared to last year. Retail pharmacists have seen an increased number of customers coming in for respiratory symptoms related to the haze. Individuals with pre-existing respiratory conditions such as rhinitis and asthma have also presented themselves at pharmacies with exacerbating symptoms,” said Mr Dominic Wong, CEO of Watsons Singapore.

The average increase in demand during the haze period this year was about 10 per cent compared with the same period last year, said Mr Ezekiel Chin, marketing and branding director for Guardian Health & Beauty. Pharmacy chain Unity indicated a 5 per cent increase in sales of such products.

According to the latest Epic Asia COPD survey, the prevalence of COPD in Singapore is 5.9 per cent of the population.

“Our observational studies done recently by the COPD Association suggest higher prevalence of COPD in the elderly population and that the prevalence rate of COPD among females may be higher than previously thought,” said Dr Ong.

However, Singapore’s Health Sciences Authority noted that there are already a considerable range of medicines for the management of haze-related symptoms.