The European Pharmaceutical Wholesale Industry: - phagro

The European Pharmaceutical Wholesale Industry
values is that pharmacies often have more than one supplying wholesaler or
wholesalers’ warehouse.
By combining the results of the analysis of the number of inhabitants per pharmacy
with the number of pharmacies supplied per operating site, the number of
inhabitants (and therefore potential patients) reached per warehouse can be determined.
The higher the figures, the more efficient the distribution system is.
With 2.2 million people per warehouse the UK proves to be most efficient, followed
by the Netherlands with more than 1.8 million people and Germany with 1.3 million
inhabitants supplied by one national wholesaler’s operating site. The results
suggest that efficiency is highest in countries having already reached a high level
of market consolidation.
900
800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
Figure 32: Retail/Hospital Pharmacies and Inhabitants
per full-line Wholesalers’ Warehouse, 2004
Retail Pharmacies per Warehouse Hospital Pharmacies per Warehouse
805
693
537
371
331
289
EU-22 average
EU-15 average
94
GER UK ESP FR IT NL AUT
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
2,226
383
329
Inhabitants per Warehouse (in thousand)
1,810
1,278
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
70
652 629
IPF Institute for Pharmaeconomic Research 38
21
16
13
13
10
EU-22 average
EU-15 average
FR GER IT ESP NL UK AUT
EU-22 average
EU-15 average
456 452
UK NL GER AUT FR IT ESP
Source: GIRP data, IPF research
1,278
1,113
One characteristic of the pharmaceutical wholesale industry is the high number of
deliveries carried out daily to supply retail pharmacies with medicines. On a 22
country basis 2.36 deliveries were carried out per day on average. Not considering
4
24
21