The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 279 No 7469 p290
15 September 2007

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• The profession (3)
• NPC (3)
• Community pharmacy
• Prescription pricing
• Wholesaling
• Anticoagulation
• Dispensing
• The Society (3)
• Regulation
• Fees consultation (2)
• Retention fees (2)
• Listening friends
• The Journal

Letters to the Editor

Wholesaling

Negative impact of Pfizer deal on independents

From Mr M. J. Griffiths, MRPharmS

I read with interest Debbie Andalo’s article “Wholesale: ripples made by Pfizer” (PJ, 8 September, p259). Although her article touched on the issue of discounts, the scale of its impact on independent pharmacists was not spelt out.

As the article states, independents will only receive 8.5 per cent — even if they are a member of a buying group such as Cambrian Alliance — set against 11.5 per cent for the chains. This means that independents are subsidising the nationals and bigger groups.

This current, unjust position means that the Government is in effect penalising community pharmacists for their thrift and entrepreneurial skills as buyers over many years, shrewdness that has saved the NHS many millions of pounds by either forcing prices down or keeping them within control.

As Ms Andalo mentions, with a clawback of up to 11.5 per cent, independents will also be losing money on every Pfizer product they dispense — and Pfizer products can represent around 20 per cent of a pharmacy’s total ethical spend.

Set that against the increased pressure on margins independents have already suffered in recent years from the Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme, the loss of oxygen and category M generics, and the case for effective interventionist action could hardly be stronger.

Cambrian Alliance has joined forces with other independent buying groups to gather evidence and precise examples to send to the Office of Fair Trading to demonstrate the negative impact that this deal has had on independent pharmacists.

Mark Griffiths
Chairman
Cambrian Alliance

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