Maroc - NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 03/Oct 18:33

Retail Pharmacy Association to form distribution holding company

THE Private Pharmacy Retail Business Association (PPRBA) has announced plans to form a registered company that will represent small to medium-sized pharmacies when importing pharmaceuticals. President of the PPRBA Glenwayne Suchit announced the association’s plans at its first annual general meeting (AGM) at Valpark Chinese Restaurant on September 27. In his address, Suchit said the plan to form the company comes amid growing challenges that have plagued small retail pharmacies across the nation, stemming from what he described as a "monopoly" in the pharmacy industry. "We have noted that many of the smaller distributors have been losing lines to the major distributors. With every change in ownership, we are seeing significant price increases. "These price increases are making it extremely difficult for retailers to buy and customers to purchase. "If we don’t fight this monopoly, we will not survive. When a company is getting a box of Panadol for half the price that a smaller pharmacy is getting it, that is unfair trading. It needs to be regularised." Speaking to Newsday after the AGM, Suchit said the association already has a bulk-buying group that collaborates to buy products. He said the association took the decision to register the group of pharmacies under one name. "When the company is established, membership will have an additional sign that indicates that it is a member of the alliance group of pharmacies and in that way the group can promote itself as a chain under one holding company," he said. Suchit noted that the companies may have to pay a membership subscription of between $200 and $300 for marketing, management and promotion. "The same way Superpharm bought out Mpharm, we will have 40 pharmacies trading under the alliance group of pharmacies. "Our company will also buy in bulk from major companies so that we could get a discounted price and increase profit margins for our pharmacies. "The benefits would be discounts and better prices to increase profit margins for small and medium pharmacies so they can survive." He said over the past 15 years the number of distributors and the number of products that pharmacies can carry has been shrinking. "We now just have two or three companies carrying the majority of pharmaceuticals while other distributors struggle with a few items. We want to change the ball game." Attorney Ted Roopnarine, who represented several of the members of the PPRBA, called on the membership to remain vigilant against monopolies and arbitrary regulatory demands from the government. "I found myself representing pharmacist after pharmacist who were being asked to do things that were utterly ridiculous. "Where there is a lack of accountability, regulation and oversight, you will have people coming into that space. "If you do not have a strong organisation to protect the membership, then you will have individual members being subject to arbitrary behaviour." He added that monopolies are anti-competitive by nature, and to have one in the pharmacy industry could wreak havoc. "When you have monopolies in a competitive environment, then capitalism cannot really survive. The death of capitalism is the death of freedom," he said. The post Retail Pharmacy Association to form distribution holding company appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.