The European Pharmaceutical Wholesale Industry: - phagro

The European Pharmaceutical Wholesale Industry
pharmaceutical wholesalers in the role of health service providers, as is already
the case in the UK, the Netherlands or Norway, where pharmaceutical wholesalers
have already become partners with Health Service Centers. For the functioning of
these partnerships information will be a key factor for success. As wholesalers are
in the unique position to hold a wide range of data related to markets, products,
manufacturers, retailers, etc. information based services can support health care
authorities’ efforts to optimize health care expenditure.
On a policy-making level neglecting the wholesale industry within the health care
sector would mean to underestimate one of the major players. So far, on a national
level, the focus of political discussion was almost solely laid on the role of
the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry and its contribution to health care as
well as the development of innovative medicines. But also on a European-wide
level, pharmaceutical distribution has not yet been in the forefront of debates on
optimizing health-care provision.
In order to find new approaches and develop new strategies towards the pharmaceutical
sector, an expert group, the so-called G-10, was established by the end of
2000. The Group had the objective to establish consensus between key stakeholders
on ways to improve competitiveness of the pharmaceutical sector in
Europe. In addition, these strategies should foster European public health targets.
But the group almost exclusively focused on the development of pharmaceuticals
and the competitiveness of the manufacturing industry (EUROPEAN COMMISSION
2002). However, the recommendations formulated also affect the distributors and
especially the wholesalers of medicines. In particular, the recommendations on the
improvement of pricing and reimbursement processes to speed-up the process of
market authorisation and on enhancing competitiveness in the generics and OTCmarkets
strongly touch the interests of pharmaceutical wholesalers. Underestimating
the importance of a smoothly functioning supply chain, the Group unfortunately
was not able to recognize the importance of pharmaceutical wholesalers as
a crucial link between the manufacturing industry and the patient. The existence
of the current distribution system is vital to the European health care sectors, as
pharmaceutical wholesalers help to reduce transaction cost, to secure a safe, rapid
and continuous supply of medicines and to help generating value along the pharmaceutical
supply chain by providing services for free. But the wholesale industry
has to offer even more than that, and this is information. An improved access to
information for patients is one of the key-targets of the European public health
strategy. Pharmaceutical wholesalers can definitely support the European Commission
in this task, because the industry generates and provides unique market
and product related information as independent or integrative service provided to
supply chain partners, which also are of interest for health care providers. In this
perspective, pharmaceutical wholesalers are prepared to become vital and reliable
partners to policy makers as well, trying to find strategies and solutions for the
current and future challenges in the European pharmaceutical sector together with
policy makers, the manufacturing industry, members of mutual health funds and
patient-representatives.
IPF Institute for Pharmaeconomic Research 62