.png) The packaging of Takabb Anti-Cough Pill (herbal flavour), Hatakabb's primary product. The design features founder Shen Shuishi's portrait at the center and five centipedes. | |
Native name | |
|---|---|
| Chinese name | |
| Traditional Chinese | 沈天河（五蜈蚣標）有限公司 |
| Simplified Chinese | 沈天河（五蜈蚣标）有限公司 |
| Thai name | |
| Thai | บริษัท ห้าตะขาบ (ซิมเทียนฮ้อ) |
| Company type | Private |
| Industry | Pharmaceutical manufacturing |
| Founder | Shen Shuishi |
| Headquarters | 1 Soi 44, Rama II Road, Tha Kham, Bang Khun Thian district, , Thailand |
| Brands | Takabb Anti-Cough Pill |
| Website | www |
Takabb Anti-Cough Pill is a throat lozenge. It is known in Thai as Takabb Ha Tua (ตะขาบ 5 ตัว, RTGS: Takhap Ha Tua), which literally means "five centipedes". It is the primary product of Hatakabb (Sim Tien Hor) Co., Ltd. (Thai: บริษัท ห้าตะขาบ (ซิมเทียนฮ้อ); Chinese: 沈天河（五蜈蚣标）有限公司), a Thai company that manufactures Chinese herbal medications. The cough pill has a distinctive packaging design featuring the pill creator's portrait surrounded by five centipedes. Although the logo depicts centipedes, the pill has no centipedes in its ingredients. Nine Chinese herbs make up the pill's ingredients. The Takabb Anti-Cough Pill is sold in almost every ASEAN country, and is very popular among Chinese tourists, who commonly purchase large amounts when visiting Thailand and Hong Kong.
The pill's creator, Shen Shuishi, immigrated from China's Fujian province to Thailand in 1917. Using the Traditional Chinese medicine knowledge he had gained in his youth, Shen invented the anti-cough pill, which he began selling in 1935 to Thai pharmacies. After two decades of this, he in 1953 opened his own pharmacy, where he sold the pill and other Chinese medicines.
After Shen died, his oldest son, Nivat Simawara, became the head of the company. Simawara shut down the pharmacy in favor of establishing the company Hatakabb in 1973 to mass-produce the cough medicines for sale. Since the Takabb pill is largely purchased by older people, the family business's second and third generations of leadership focused on broadening the company's appeal to younger demographics. The pill is bitter and makes consumers' tongues black. In the mid-2000s, the company began offering new flavors—mint, lemongrass, and plum—to attract younger consumers. To market the company to youth, it signed a partnership with a clothing company in 2019 to feature its logo on street style apparel.