Attacked for being curious

[TechieDave]

I work at a local pharmacy with the owner/pharmcist and a few other dispensing staff.

When orders get sent to work ive gotta check invoices match with the stock we receieved. Over the past of months loads of stock has been arriving for expensive branded meds that we dont put out on shelves, but go into a store room downstairs. One time i was being my usual curious self and asked what they were for since i had never seen them being used - i was rudely told to shut up and mind my own buisiness in front of the staff, and have been told pretty firmly to just keep checking invoices and shutup.

And thats what I have been doing, but im still curious. All the items i check seem to be high value meds that are 'agency restricted' which i think means we can only order a limited amount. They are usually things like zyprexa, cialis, lipitor, things like that.

anyone have any idea what happening to these meds??
i dont know much about pharmacy law but arnt we only supposed to supply to doctors requesting them?

i dont have a major problem with my boss but if im part of this scheme i dont want to be involved if its a bit dodgy, and ill be having words if im helping him evade tax or something.

[Defblade]

He's probably parallel exporting them.

Which, is apparently the most evil thing in the world, and nothing like we do to everyone else when we use PIs. Which we have to.

It's not illegal; doesn't even need a wholesale license so long as its <5% of the business.

[TechieDave]

Well its nice to get an explaination, so whats their problem and why the angry reaction i got from the boss? I dont think its evil if you were referring to me sarcasticly and saying it was the most evil thing in the world...

[Sir_Dispensalot]

And if it's more than 5% of the business, it'll be being sold / transferred to another pharmacy that does have a wholesalers licence and then exported. See how all our tears flow for the poor drugs companies who might lose a couple of quid per box of zyprexa...
boss probably doesnt want everyone to know in case someone shops him to one of the DTP / agency drug companies who'll then stop supplying anything - thereby stopping patient supply too.

[WindsorLR]

TechiDave,

I do not believe the comment 'evil' was directed at you. Defblade is just echoing the frustration we all experience when we have to jump through loops in order to get stock for our customers. As you probably know, some drug companies have taken on the 'game' of playing wholesaler. They make our lives particularly difficult and blame the so called 'exporters' as the cause for all our troubles.

As Defblade rightly says, as a Country we have been importing PI for many years. Now that the shoe is on the other foot the drug companies are crying foul. I for one think they need to relook at their motives!

[Defblade]

TechiDave,

I do not believe the comment 'evil' was directed at you. Defblade is just echoing the frustration we all experience when we have to jump through loops in order to get stock for our customers.

As Defblade rightly says, as a Country we have been importing PI for many years. Now that the shoe is on the other foot the drug companies are crying foul.

No, definately not directed at you, TechiDave. Partly at the drug companies, but mainly at the DoH who, happy to reduce the drugs bill by our canny buying yet not increase payments when PIs are low, suddenly start pronouncing how we owe patients in our own country the highest duty of care.

Hypocrits.

[weeneldo]

They might be doing the same as what my company does, not sure if this is paralell importing or what.

Just for talking's sake, say GlaxoSmithKline only supply their products to AAH, who then wholesale these products to pharmacies. My company would buy a bulk lot of GlaxoSmithKline products from AAH (alreadyt having certain discounts with AAH) and then sell these GlaxoSmithKline products on to other big wholesalers (eg. Colorama, Ethigen, DE etc). This means that the other big wholesalers are able to compete with AAH by also selling the GlaxoSmithKline products and my company is making a profit because they already get these products at a discounted price.

Obviously AAH would want to retain their monopoly on the GlaxoSmithKline products, so if they knew what my company was doing they would stop the discount. To get around this, each pharmacy in the company buys a small order of each GlaxoSmithKline product. These individual small orders are then put together to form a large wholesale order which is sold on. I'm pretty sure its not illegal, its just a crafty way of making money through supply and demand. The only reason it would have to be hushed is so the wholesaler the products are being bought from doesn't realise what's going on and remove the discount.

I think it might actually be Pfizer products that my company does it with. You mention Zyprexa and Cialis which are both Eli Lilly products, so maybe your company does it with them. Unless I'm totally off the mark and it is something dodgy that's going on lol.

[mrmeds]

On this topic, I sent a nice letter to the MD of Lilley regarding their stupid system. Seems like its the way to get your quota moved up to a realistic level for your needs. Maybe evryone should do it and swamp their mail boxes !!!

[bobbin]

It's not illegal; doesn't even need a wholesale license so long as its <5% of the business.

True. The thing is... it *is* illegal for a wholesaler to buy medicines from a pharmacy which does not have a wholesale dealer's license. If a pharmacy which does not have a WDL sells products to a parallel exporter (wholesaler), the pharmacist is not breaking the law.......but they are allowing the wholesaler/exporter to break the law.

[bobbin]

They might be doing the same as what my company does, not sure if this is paralell importing or what.

Just for talking's sake, say GlaxoSmithKline only supply their products to AAH, who then wholesale these products to pharmacies. My company would buy a bulk lot of GlaxoSmithKline products from AAH (alreadyt having certain discounts with AAH) and then sell these GlaxoSmithKline products on to other big wholesalers (eg. Colorama, Ethigen, DE etc). This means that the other big wholesalers are able to compete with AAH by also selling the GlaxoSmithKline products and my company is making a profit because they already get these products at a discounted price.

Obviously AAH would want to retain their monopoly on the GlaxoSmithKline products, so if they knew what my company was doing they would stop the discount. To get around this, each pharmacy in the company buys a small order of each GlaxoSmithKline product. These individual small orders are then put together to form a large wholesale order which is sold on. I'm pretty sure its not illegal, its just a crafty way of making money through supply and demand. The only reason it would have to be hushed is so the wholesaler the products are being bought from doesn't realise what's going on and remove the discount.

I think it might actually be Pfizer products that my company does it with. You mention Zyprexa and Cialis which are both Eli Lilly products, so maybe your company does it with them. Unless I'm totally off the mark and it is something dodgy that's going on lol.

Just out of curiosity, do you find that this practice affects the continuity of supply to your customers? For example, if you ordered a large amount of a particular branded medicine for sale to a wholesaler, you might exceed your monthly quota....leaving you with inadequate stock for prescriptions.