Order and receive controlled substances securely and efficiently and comply with DSCSA tracking and reporting requirements. Prescription drug repackaging solutions to meet the individual clinical, business and compliance needs of pharmacies of all types and sizes. Pharmaceutical distributors pride themselves on delivering their own brand of solutions to help customers enhance efficiencies while supporting quality care.
Yet, when it comes to industry-wide drug shortages, all wholesalers face similar challenges. Pharmacy Distribution. Specialty Distribution. Medical Practice Distribution. Home Pharmaceutical Distribution.
What they sell them for, though, is their business. Prescription medication prices began dropping as more medications became generic. This would have been bad news for insurance companies if people found out, since it would undercut their control over prescription medication purchases.
If a pharmacy violated their gag order, the insurance company would retaliate by not allowing their members to buy prescription drugs at that pharmacy. This resulted in a windfall for retail pharmacies as the finances of the two largest retail pharmacies in the U. Figure 2: Annual number of retail prescription pharmacies in the U.
Since both CVS and Walgreens have nearly quadrupled their total revenue from retail prescription drug sales and doubled their number of retail pharmacies in the U. They were able to fund this growth mostly from the sale of generic prescription medications sold to customers, almost all of whom used a third party payer insurance to buy their prescriptions.
For years now, Wal-Mart has been very open about their policy of selling generic prescription medications to people without insurance. Many have accused Wal-Mart of using their size and purchasing power to undercut the competition. Public anger, however, is reaching a boiling point. The Trump Administration has floated the idea of eliminating Medicare rebates, essentially forcing PBMs to pass negotiated discounts down to patients.
While this would lower the out-of-pocket expense for patients on high-cost brand drugs, it might increase overall costs in the form of higher premiums. In late February, seven pharmaceutical executives testified before Congress about rising drug prices. Their showdown with lawmakers was more muted than expected, but many experts believe the groundwork is being laid for substantive legislative action, if not in the next couple years, then in the next half a dozen.
Those lobbying efforts are going into overdrive because the drug-supply chain is facing real pressure as health care costs have become a rare bipartisan issue. That makes them one link in the supply chain that Washington ignores at its peril.
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