New drug wholesale link in Europe

The third-largest French drug distribution group, CERP, is to merge with the fourth-largest wholesaler in Germany, Sanacorp. The two companies will combine their drug wholesale activities within a new joint company on an equal basis. The new entity will have sales of some 5.3 billion euros ($7.0 billion), employ 5,000 personnel and occupy fourth place in the European drug distribution, sector behind Alliance Boots of the UK and the German companies Celesio and Phoenix.

The operation marks further concentration in the wholesale market. The French market leader OCP was acquired by Gehe of Germany in 1993 to become Celesio and France's number two, Alliance Sante, is part of the UK's Alliance Boots. But while the major groups are quoted companies, CERP and Sanacorp are both cooperative operations.

Alain Roudergues, secretary general of CERP, said at the company's Rouen base, that they now had the aim of dominating the cooperative drug distribution sector in Europe and would "welcome other cooperatives" in due course. CERP has no presence on the German market and Sanacorp is not present in France. Approaches have already been made to Fecofar in Portugal, Farmintesa in Italy and TEKB in Turkey. Meanwhile, the French drug wholesale companies are reporting their worst year ever with sales down in 2006, for the first time, according to the sector association in Paris. The wholesalers have been affected by recent reductions in health spending and are now expected to cut about 1,000 jobs out of a total of 14,000.