EAST LANE CORPORATION (ELCOR), a company which started operations in 1994, is engaged in the distribution of medical devices in the Philippines. ELCOR started out with the stoma care products from B. BRAUN in 1994 and by November 1995, was appointed as their only authorized partner to market the BIOTROL brand of ostomy appliance. While most other brands of stoma products at that time had a two-piece set wherein pressure had to be applied to fasten the pouch to the base plate, BIOTROL was the first two-piece system marketed in the Philippines, where the base plate featured a lock-ring mechanism, thus minimizing the pressure applied necessary to fasten the pouch to the base plate. It was the first stoma appliance that could be applied post operatively. This system was launched in the mid-nineties together with the CRYSALIS, the one-piece stoma appliance. B.BRAUN continued to develop new products in stoma care and the ALMARYS TWIN was developed and launched in the country together with the ALMARYS OPTIMA one-piece appliance, during the turn of the new century. The ALMARYS TWIN later on evolved into the ALMARYS TWIN PLUS and this was launched in the country in 2005. In 2006, a new less expensive appliance was developed to cater specifically to the Asian market where reimbursement was not a practice in most countries in Asia. This was the PROXIMA2 and the PROXIMA one-piece.. In early 1996, ELCOR's management saw the need for disposable examination gloves. At that time the examination gloves used in hospitals, came from 2 or 3 local glove manufacturing firms. Supply of the finished product was a problem as these manufacturers had a problem with their raw material sources. Seeing this opportunity, ELCOR'S management checked out the market and realized that Malaysia was the number one producer of latex examination gloves. Several correspondences later, ELCOR was able to look for a reliable glove manufacturer and thus was born the DYNATEC brand of examination gloves. In its first few years, DYNATEC examination gloves was one of ELCOR'S main revenue generators even during the Asian crisis in 1997. After 1998 however, the market became very competitive due to the influx of importers carrying their brands of examination gloves. The raw materials like latex and oil kept on increasing as well, so much so that the supplier of ELCOR's gloves was having a hard time surviving. Thus by 2003, ELCOR'S supplier of gloves decided to shut down. ELCOR continued to look for other glove suppliers but could not get another reliable supplier, so much so that quality of the gloves suffered. Margins also continued to decrease such that it was not anymore feasible for ELCOR to continue with this product. Finally, in 2006 ELCOR decided to temporarily get out of this market. Also in 1996, ELCOR was appointed as one of several companies in the Philippines, to distribute the brand RÜSCH, an old family-run company from Germany. At that time, RÜSCH was known in the Philippines for its endotracheal tubes, anesthesia masks and foley catheters. Given this chance to prove itself, ELCOR pursued increasing RÜSCH'S presence in the market despite having other distributors also carrying the same brand. While the other distributors concentrated only on the more saleable items of RÜSCH, ELCOR pursued to increase the number of items that could be marketed in the country. ELCOR sold not only the endotracheal tubes and foley catheters, but also their oral and nasal airways, the endobronchial tubes, the specialty endo tubes, and their different kinds of foley catheters as well as their trachostomy tubes. Thus in 1999, ELCOR was rewarded for its efforts by being appointed as RÜSCH's exclusive distributor in the country. By August 2001, ELCOR ventured into the world of modern wound dressings. ELCOR was appointed as an authorized dealer for selected hospitals in Metro Manila by Smith & Nephew (S&N) Philippines catering to the hospital market. S&N is a global medical device company based in the United Kingdom, and is known for its advance wound management, its endoscopy as well as its orthopedics line of products. This partnership with S&N Philippines however, was a short-lived affair as it decided to shut down by end of 2001 after just two years of operations. Despite this and having seen some of the potential of S&N products like Opsite and Bactigras, ELCOR pursued to import directly from S&N Singapore, the S&N subsidiary tasked to handle the Philippine market after the closure of the Philippine subsidiary. In late 2001, ELCOR was allowed to import directly from S&N Singapore. By the last quarter of 2002, it was decided to appoint an exclusive distributor to better increase S&N's market share in the country. ELCOR pursued to get the distributorship but lost out to another entity who was also vying for it. Not to be dismayed by this setback, ELCOR swallowed its pride and persisted to carry S&N's line of wound management products. It became S&N's authorized dealer for certain major accounts in Metro Manila, under the new distributor. ELCOR relentlessly continued to develop the wound market in Metro Manila and her efforts did not go unnoticed. The market manager for export markets of S&N Singapore at that time, saw through the efforts of what ELCOR was doing to increase the market presence of S&N in Metro Manila, the major market in the country. By the beginning of the fourth quarter 2005, the decision to change distributor and appoint ELCOR as the new one, was made. Thus, in January 2006, ELCOR became the official exclusive distributor to market S&N's wound management products in the Philippines. In 2007, ELCOR decided to look for another glove supplier. After looking at several Malaysian suppliers, ELCOR finally decided to bring in the MAXTER brand of latex examination gloves & surgical gloves. Also, during this year, ELCOR got in touch with a quality underpad supplier from Taiwan, thus bringing in the DYNATEC underpads. In the 1st quarter of 2012, ELCOR has brought in the TUTA medical tubings from Australia. Despite competition as well as the challenges of getting good brands to distribute, ELCOR will continue to obtain new medical devices and moving towards medical equipment, starting with some small specialized equipment. Basically, the aim is to continue to supply the hospitals in the country with quality yet reasonably priced products.
