Industrial Experience in MSD: Day '10.5' - Focus Group Meeting for ZENHALE

Dear all!
First of all, let me show some pictures that I've taken from last Friday until Sunday . Sui Lun and I went to our Snowz's (our coursemate) birthday party straight after our work on Friday. After that, I went to Melaka then Muar for an awesome food trip with MeiTing, Shao and Snowz! I'm sure y'all will dribble over the food photos below. XD

On the way to Snowz's birthday party!

Popiah at Melaka

Satay, Siham @ Muar

Scrumptious beef noodle @ Melaka

Mixed fruit fish @ Muar

Mille Crepe @ Melaka Nadeje

Coconut Milk Shake from Melaka

Okay, now back to something related to MSD. I managed to come back to KL from Muar for the Focus Group Meeting that I was honored to be invited by Dr Radha that I met during the field visit to Columbia Asia Hospital.

This meeting was held in the Empire Hotel. There were about 30 GPs attended (considered small group). Dr Radha, was the KOL (Key Opinion Leader) invited by MSD. This meeting was to introduce the new product of MSD, ZENHALE, which is an inhalation aerosol that contains mometasone furoate (steroid) and formoterol fumarate dihydrate (LABA). Dr Radha has his own style of presenting, he's very good in giving the real data and case studies to prove that ZENHALE has its benefits over other products like Symbicort, Seretide and Foster. That's why, Khay Sern (Senior product specialist) told me that MSD is going to invite him for the next product again.

Paper provided by Empire Hotel to take note

Dr Radha presenting

A little bit information about Zenhale, it contains mometasone furoate, which is a steroid that has high binding affinity to glucocorticoid receptor, and Formoterol, which is a LABA. Comparing to Salmeterol, they are both long-acting bronchodilators that are effective in the treatment of asthma. Adequate water solubility and moderate lipophilicity of formoterol ensures rapid diffusion to the beta2-receptor on the smooth muscle and rapid bronchodilating activity. Salmeterol in Diskus, on the other hand, may diffuse more slowly to the beta2-receptor because of its high lipophilicity explaining the slower onset of action. Therefore, the combination of mometasone furoate and formoterol will give a higher performance in improving the lung conditions and lowering the risk of getting asthma attack and thus reliever is less likely to be used by the asthmatic patients that are consistently using ZENHALE (an inhaler for maintenance).

After the presentation, Dr Radha opened the floor for questions. Although it was SCARRYYYYY, I asked THREE questions and gave the feedback in front of everybody before we headed for buffet dinner. That was how we ended the meeting.