Deals between wholesalers are weak link in supply chain
Grey trade is probably the most overlooked route for counterfeit drugs to enter the supply chain, according to Paul
Forster-Jones, managing director of Cordia Healthcare, one of Alliance Boots's short-line wholesaling businesses.
Speaking at the UniChem convention in Barbados earlier this month, Mr
Forster-Jones said that the grey market [the trading of UK-branded product
throughout the marketplace, out of the manufacturer’s control]
is enormous, and it may be fuelled by manufacturers themselves selling
excess stock into the supply chain at lower-than-wholesale prices.
“What makes this such a risky area is that grey product often changes
hands several times before it gets to you and, possibly, when it does
that, we lose its audit trail,” he said. Mr Forster-Jones believes
this problem is exacerbated by the “absolutely insufficient control
of wholesaler dealers’ licences” of which there are some
1,600 in the UK.
He told participants that his business had bought large quantities of
leading manufacturers’ UK product on the grey market.
He said that manufacturers that move to direct-to-pharmacy distribution
models must “make sure that the average discount they are offering
to pharmacy is at least what is currently available” so that pharmacists
are not tempted to buy from other sources.
And Mr Forster-Jones went on to say that pharmacists need to ensure that
they are buying legitimate product from reputable sources.
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