What they regard as unreasonable demands for information by the Office of Fair Trading have prompted the wholesale members of the Proprietary Articles Trade Association to resign their membership. This is not expected to have any implications for the continued defence of resale price maintenance on medicines.
The Journal understands that the OFT has been asking for detailed information that would have been appropriate to the investigation stage of its inquiries, rather than the litigation of its challenge to RPM. Questions asked seek such detailed information as the proportion of business that is accounted for by branded sub-categories of medicines, details of different categories of sales to various types of buying groups, the proportion of total over-the-counter pharmaceutical business handled by different buying groups and explanations of how maintained retail prices affect price negotiations between wholesalers and their customers.
Mr Michael Watts (director, British Association of Pharmaceutical Wholesalers) told The Journal on September 7: “Wholesalers feel that they have been unfairly targeted in a battle that is not theirs. The questions asked would involve an enormous amount of management time just so that the OFT can identify the wholesalers’ discount, which is completely transparent anyway.”
Mr Watts said that wholesalers provided financial support for the case through the BAPW and that their resignation from the PATA would not affect that. “There is no weakening of resolve,” he said.
The chairman of the Community Pharmacy Action Group (Mr David Sharpe) said: “The OFT does not seem to be able to differentiate between its investigative powers and litigation. It is not investigating any longer; it is litigating the case, so it cannot come over in this heavy-handed way. Wholesalers are being asked questions by the OFT that are disproportionate and not worth the cost of providing the answers. The discount wholesalers give is very transparent.”