Monday, January 29, 2007

The Private Pharmaceutical Industry

The Challenges Contemporary Small-Scale Pharmacies Face

As we enter the 21st century, we find ourselves succumbing to the controversial yet ultimately unstoppable trend of globalization and corporatization of previously small-scale markets, like the retail pharmaceutical industry. Although large retail pharmacy chains have existed since the 1940’s, which major retail stores such as Sav-on and Osco Drugs, there remains the persistent reminder in the back of one's mind that somehow the entire retail pharmaceutical will soon be nothing but a closed off market, guarded by an oligarchy of major pharmaceutical chains lording over the industry.

As the increasing age of the U.S. population is coupled with the staggering dietary habits of most middle aged and adolescent Americans the pharmaceutical industry will unfortunately get a boost in its sales. Perhaps it is because of this eminent growth in demand that corporations are attempting to seize as much of the market as possible, like sprint runners taking positions in anticipation of the blast from the starting gun. The proliferation of corporate pharmacies is coldly evident when one does a simple Google search with the following in the search for pharmacies in a given area, approximately fifty percent of the stores belong to national brands. Perhaps it is because small scale, mom & pop, pharmacies do not advertise with a Google supported publication, however, this represents an even greater problem. The issue here is not that advertisements for local, privately owned pharmacies cannot be found on a simple Google, but that small businesses cannot meet the demands of modern consumers.

The modern consumer demands quick access to all prevalent information, such as location, inventory, working hours, and drug production capabilities. Not only do most private pharmacies lack the efficiency and resources of corporate pharmacies, but their location and accessibility (hours of operate, parking, space) is also inferior when compared to large corporate pharmacies. As we can see, the second store on our general search had a 24hr pharmacy. The amount of effort and capital required for a private pharmacy to maintain those hours would be staggering. Another advantage corporate pharmacies have is the prevalence of an almost infinite number of “pull factors” for consumers. The CVS pharmacy chain sells thousands of non-pharmaceutical products; they even have one of the world’s first disposable digital video cameras. When one critically compares private versus. corporate pharmacy retailers the results are extremely discouraging.

One of the few advantages private pharmacies may have in the future is the increasing role of the pharmacist in modern medicine by allowing greater to pharmactists and pharmaceuticals. The ever broadening capabilities of the pharmaceutical sciences are expected to propel the contemporary pharmacist into a position almost on par with that of a general physician. Private pharmacies would have some advantage in that their customer base would naturally be smaller and thus allow any given pharmacist working in the in a given area to have a more intimate relationship with the patient as they can more easily recognize their personal needs. Unfortunately however, modern business trends dictate that almost any market can fall prey to corporatization.

Another blow to the private pharmaceutical industry is the U.S. policy on retail pharmaceuticals. Essentially, U.S. policy favors pharmaceutical corporations, which results in extremely expensive pharmaceuticals compared with Canada. This has created an online market for drugs from Canada. The demand for low-cost drugs is evident in a simple search for a random drug used for ulcerative colitis. The drug is called Asacol, and in a simple search on virtualdrugstore.com, one can see that three of the five sponsored links are websites of Canadian pharmaceutical retailers.

Thus, it is evident that a combination of growing demand, corporatization, along with the increasing accessibility demands of the modern consumer are all contributing to the profitability and practicality of large-scale corporate pharmacies. Perhaps the changing role of pharmacists in the future will counter the decline in private pharmacies, but modern economic trends dictate otherwise.