History

FAMED started operations in a 25 sqm rented office space with two employees. In the beginning, there were only two product lines that the company distributes, Medrad vascular injection systems and Daig interventional cardiology accessories. Success in distributing the aforementioned products have brought about trust and confidence from other companies with products catering to a common customer base. Imation, the pioneer of dry laser imaging printer have entrusted its portfolio to FAMED six months later and the company installed the first dry laser system in the Philippines. Despiteunfavorable economic conditions in 1997, the company successfully closed the year. Early 1998, FAMED secured agency for Medtronic’sinterventional cardiology products, as a result of a productive year selling Daig products. Before the year ended, Medtronic added its cardiac surgery products in FAMED’s growing product offering.

Nineteen ninety nine was spent developing markets for the new product lines acquired. Most notable is the first ever endovascular stent graft was implanted on a Filipino patient with Medtronic’s Aneurx, distributed by FAMED. In May of 1999, FAMED’s first regional office was opened in Olongapo City to cater the needs of its customers in Northern Luzon.  The same regional office provides service and support to dealers in that area. Determined to break into a million dollar annual turnover, the company pursued additional product lines in its radiology and cardiac surgery offerings in 2000. NycomedAmersham contrast media products became the latest addition to FAMED’s range. 

The company finally achieved over 1 million dollar sales in 2001 with the help of most recently acquired agencies and Vitatron cardiac rhythm management devices. In August of 2001, the second regional office of the company was opened in Cebu City, after a 6-month home-based operation of the regional manager. The office in Cebu supports and serves the requirement of customers in Visayas and Northern Mindanao. Shortly thereafter in 2002, Gore Medical, whose main products are PTFE vascular grafts have appointed FAMED as its sole distributor in the Philippines. To sustain the company’s consistent annual growth, a subsidiary company, DONICA Diagnostic & Imaging Services was established in September 2002. It provides state-of-the-art laboratory, diagnostic imaging, and medical services to industrial clients’ pre-employment and annual medical examinations. It was also a landmark year as the annual turnover has doubled from earnings in the maiden year of 1997.

2003 and 2004 were the quiet years for FAMED. Due to international mergers and acquisitions, what used to be a ten-product line portfolio became a lean six. Our top revenue generating product, coronary stents, became obsolete with the introduction of drug-eluting stents. As expected, there was no significant growth on the total revenue, although growth in the remaining product lines was sustained. Another subsidiary company, GENRAD Enterprises, was set up in March of 2003, mainly focusing on providing technical service to medical equipment. Client is mainly Carestream Health (formerly known as Kodak Health Imaging) and FAMED’s medical equipment install base.

With less product lines in 2005 than the year before, the team vowed to do more. Company structure was reviewed that the organization had to be rationalized. Painful but necessary decisions were made, and it paid off. 20% growth on the sales revenue was achieved. Later that year, agency for Medtronic’s Core Neuro and Medtronic ENT was secured. With a more potent product portfolio in 2006, FAMED aimed to grow the business by another 20% in the beginning of the year. The consistent contributors performed well. The supporting cast did their job; the company ended up growing the revenue by 25%. Medtronic’s Endeavor Drug Eluting Stent significantly contributed to the company’s earnings and in October, the first Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) was performed at Cardinal Santos Medical Center. By November, Medtronic Neuro Technologies is represented by FAMED.

Another company milestone was in the horizon in the year 2007. Besides celebrating 10 years of successful and challenging existence, breaking into the USD 2 million turnover would make a very memorable year. With a balanced, equally contributing product lines, the goal was achieved. In 2008, the company recorded 12% growth in revenues while maintaining the same range of product offering.

At present, the company acts as exclusive distributor in the Philippines for world-leading medical technology  companies such as; MEDTRONIC (Vascular, Cardiac Surgery, Cardiac Rhythm Disease Management, ENT, Neurosurgical Technology and Neuromodulation products), MEDRAD (Angiography, CT, MRI, and Ultrasound Injectors), Mega Medical (ENT Treatment and Diagnostic Systems),  Eskay Fine Chemicals (Barium Sulphate Contrast Media), Covidien (formerly known as Tyco Healthcare, for Interventional Oncology) and Integra Lifesciences (Mayfield Cranial Stabilization Systems). The company’s vision is to focus on these markets in which our products are considered of premium quality and our strength is evident.

In time for its 12^th anniversary, FAMED opened its own, recently built corporate office, FCI Corporate Center, at 1814 Philip Street, Multinational Village, Paranaque City, Metro Manila. Currently, the company consists of thirty four (35) employees wherein 15 are in sales, 6 in technical service, and 14 in administration and finance.