The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 278 No 7445 p358
31 March 2007

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Mixed views on success of Pfizer distribution scheme

Some four weeks into Pfizer's direct-to-pharmacy distribution arrangement through UniChem views on the success of the scheme are mixed. Rival wholesaler AAH Pharmaceuticals has accused UniChem of providing a two-tiered service in its delivery of Pfizer prescription medicines — offering preferential service to its existing customers over those also dealing with other wholesalers.

UniChem has rejected this suggestion. A spokeswoman told The Journal: “As a business it is not in our interest to offer any preferential treatment to any customers.”

AAH has put forward the testimonies of a number of pharmacists who say they are being denied a timed delivery slot and believe that their cut-off times for orders are unacceptable — some are as early as 10am. “As a result they were finding it harder to meet patient needs and felt they were being deliberately pressured to move all of their business to UniChem,” an AAH statement said.

UniChem explained that existing customers have retained their cut-off and delivery times for all orders. For new Pfizer accounts, cut-off times are determined by the location of the dispensary in relation to the distribution centre from which it is served. “Therefore, some people have better cut-offs than others — that happens across the board with all wholesalers. As the routes settle down and as ordering patterns become more standardised, people will start to see a regular delivery slot,” the spokeswoman said, stressing that there have been few complaints to the company’s distribution centres.

David Watson, Pfizer’s head of trade, added: “I don’t minimise the issue, because we are keen to understand on an individual basis if we can do anything to improve cut-off times. If people say it is an issue — whether it be pharmacists or dispensing doctors — we will try to resolve it.”

Neal Patel, head of communications, National Pharmacy Association, told The Journal that it is too soon to tell whether Pfizer’s model will work. “We are monitoring the situation closely,” he said. “Because there is still stock and parallel imports within the supply chain it is probably too early for some of the problems we envisage to become apparent.”