The challenges that e-pharmacy offered were outlined by Dr Jean Paul Gagnon
(director of public policy, Aventis Pharmaceuticals, New Jersey).
He said that e-pharmacy shifted the balance of power to consumers. It would
change the structure of pharmacy services and raised many policy issues regarding
regulation.
The internet, like department stores and mail order had been when they first
developed, had a disruptive effect on existing structures. The disruptive effects
were: to increase turnover rise at reduced margin; to cross established business
boundaries; to offer substantial discounts and innovative services; to open
24-hours a day; and to offer anonymity to purchasers. On the negative side,
there were concerns about confidentiality and high initial costs, and unexpected
competition could arise at any moment.
The battlefield on which internet businesses would win or lose was provided
by services known as navigators. Examples of current internet navigators were
Yahoo and Google. Navigators made it possible for consumers to compare potential
suppliers and prices with little effort and could act as consumer purchase agents.
As such, they had no allegiances to existing companies; their allegiance was
to the internet consumer. Retailers and e-tailers became no more than commodity
suppliers.
So how should existing businesses respond, Dr Gagnon asked. The answer was to
embrace the new technology, to leapfrog other parts of the distribution chain
and, best of all, to become navigators.
The problem was, Dr Gagnon warned, that too strong a culture in existing businesses
could blind their leaders to ideas that did not fit their mindsets.