Mediplus and Farmexim are part of groups that have their own pharmaceutical retail operations, Sensiblu and Help Net. Farmexpert on the other hand, does not. The wholesalers pursue partnerships with independent pharmacies for a steady flow of products in exchange for support for the business of their partners.
“I haven’t signed up with any program yet because I see no benefits in that. These are programs for wholesalers to ensure sales in the market, not necessarily to support independent pharmacies,” Monica Negovan, a pharmacist in Targu-Mures, who owns Evital pharmacy with 3.6 million lei (almost EUR800,000) sales a year, told ZF.
“They’ve got some very strict terms there. When you sign such deals you can hardly work with other wholesalers, I don’t think there is any wholesaler in Romania that can provide the whole range of products.”
On the other hand, the pharmacists that entered into such partnerships talk about a boost to profitability and additional discounts as the main benefits.
“The good things about this partnership (i.e. Respiro – Mediplus’ program) includes cutting operating costs, access to additional discounts, support for the management of the team,” said Dragos Marian, pharmacist with Zen Pharma in Targu-Mures, a pharmacy whose sales reached RON17.8 million in 2015.
Mediplus, the leader of pharmaceutical wholesale market and part of the A&D Pharma group, introduced the Respiro program, which integrated 600 pharmacies in one year, its official said. Robert Popescu, A&D Pharma CEO, has recently told ZF in an interview that the idea was not to create an alternate pharmacy chain, and Mediplus’ benefits from partnerships include boosting the customer portfolio, logistics organization and an increase in revenue.
Farmexpert, the wholesaler held by Walgreens Boots Alliance group, which does not have its own retail pharmacies, integrated 550 independent pharmacies under the Alphega name, a concept of the group it is part of, which was introduced in Romania last year. Farmexpert’s strategy is to rebrand the independent pharmacies as Alphega, which it has already done with 140 of them, its officials said. The total investment stood at RON1.7 million.
Alphega is different from the other two programs in that although the pharmacies retain the same owners, their visual identity changes.
The latest program introduced is Farmexim’s Benefica, which started in mid-March. Two months into the program, Farmexim has integrated 300 independent pharmacies and its officials say the plan is to grow to 600 by yearend. Benefica does not interfere with business decisions or the image of the independent pharmacy.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)