Strategic Developments In Euro Pharma Wholesaling

Key issues in European pharmaceutical wholesaling, including retailing and alternative forms of distribution which threaten the traditional channels, have been examined in a new study by Datamonitor, entitled Strategic Developments in Pharmaceutical Wholesaling in Europe. Among the reports findings are:

- where pharmaceutical prices are high, and both regulatory structures and active government policy have encouraged the growth of parallel importing, ie in Germany, the Netherlands, the UK and Denmark, parallel imports' share of the retail pharmaceutical market ranges from 1.7% to 9%, and is set to grow;

- wholesalers dominate the distribution of drugs to community pharmacies, but in many countries have a subordinate role to the manufacturer's in distributing to hospital pharmacies;