Unichem Ltd has bought an exclusive licence for the Mediphase pharmacy computer system from IMS Health Ltd for an undisclosed sum. Unichem is setting up a team to continue the development of Mediphase and to integrate it with its own intranet site.
Unichem has long been the principal user of the Mediphase system, both through Moss Pharmacy and the independent pharmacies served by Unichem. The system has over 3,200 users.
Mr Keith Slater (management information services director, Unichem) told The Journal on January 11 that existing Mediphase customers would continue to receive the same support from IMS Health that they had in the past. However, Unichem's plan was to integrate Mediphase with its existing intranet to provide a single e-commerce solution.
"In the near future, we would expect the pharmacies we serve to have only one package, perhaps running over two or three terminals, which will allow them to deal with prescription dispensing, interactive stock ordering, information databases and all their 'electronic paperwork'," he said.
As well as exclusive rights to the use of Mediphase in the United Kingdom, Unichem has also secured rights to use the package overseas. Mr Slater said that in the longer term, Alliance Unichem Plc was expecting to adopt an e-commerce strategy across its whole group of companies and Mediphase would form part of that.
As part of the deal, IMS Health has retained rights to license back the software to pharmacies in the UK owned by other wholesalers after discussions with Unichem. IMS Health said that it would now be concentrating its development funds on internet and intranet solutions for pharmacies, building on its recently launched intranet, Intrapharm.