Opinion varies on uptake of Pfizer accounts
More than 80 per cent of pharmacies have now opened a Pfizer/UniChem account ahead of the 5 March 2007 start date for Pfizer's new distribution system, The Journal can reveal.
The figure, given by a spokeswoman for UniChem, includes England, Scotland
and Wales but not Northern Ireland where, she said, uptake has not been
as speedy because pharmacists there received sign-up packs only recently.
And she made clear that the figure incorporates existing UniChem customers.
Pfizer was not able to give The Journal a regional breakdown of accounts
signed up or the actual percentage figure because, a spokeswoman for
Pfizer explained, the situation is changing all the time. “Only
a small minority have yet to open a Pfizer account but we are confident
that most of them will have opened one by the time we go live,” she
added.
Pfizer this week urged pharmacists to sign up to the scheme. In a statement
the manufacturer confirmed that it would no longer supply UK wholesalers
with prescription medicines after 5 March. “After this point we
do not believe UK wholesalers will have sufficient stocks in order to
guarantee to supply the full range of Pfizer prescription medicines beyond
a short period of time,” it states.
In response to Pfizer’s statement, Harry McQuillan, Scottish Pharmaceutical
General Council chief executive officer, stated: “The result of
a recent SPGC straw poll of community pharmacy contractors in Scotland
showed that a significant percentage has not yet opened up an account
with Pfizer. It also showed that many who have opened an account did
so under duress and are not happy with Pfizer’s distribution proposal.”
The Journal made contact with Gavin Dobson, a community pharmacy manager
in Errol, Kinross-shire, who has not signed up to the Pfizer scheme.
He told The Journal that he believes Pfizer’s plans will not go
through and that he has decided to do without a Pfizer account throughout
March in the hope that the Office of Fair Trading will intervene.
His chosen buying group, Albapharm, confirmed that fewer than five of
its 182 members have opened a Pfizer account. None of Albapharm’s
26 members in Northern Ireland has signed up to the scheme, a spokesman
for the company added.
“I am stocking up on Pfizer products as we speak and I’ve
now got enough Pfizer medicines to last me through March. This is costing
me
dearly,” Mr Dobson said. However, he admits: “If the situation
doesn’t resolve by the end of March, I will probably have to open
a Pfizer account — obviously my patients come first.”
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