Pharmaceutical wholesalers contribute to their operations. They threaten to limit supplies

The President of the Polish Bar Council, Elżbieta Piotrowska-Rutkowska, received a letter from the Union of Employers of Pharmaceutical Wholesalers (ZPHF), alarming that due to the rapidly growing costs of all elements of the warehouse's operations with a very low margin on reimbursed drugs, which does not cover the labor expenditure with the risk of reducing the frequency supply of drugs to pharmacies.

ZPHF reminds that the Pharmaceutical Law Act imposes on wholesalers an obligation to ensure the availability of reimbursed medicinal products for pharmacies and health care facilities, and imposes many obligations during storage and transport. The Drug Reimbursement Act specifies the maximum margin that wholesalers may add to the selling price of a product, strictly prohibiting its excess, regardless of the distribution costs incurred.
According to ZPHF, this should be associated with the provision of remuneration covering the costs of running a business. Now wholesalers are paying extra for the mandatory activity.

The information provided by the ZPHF shows that in the current economic situation all wholesalers generate losses on Rx drugs. On the other hand, pharmacies - also in a difficult financial situation - expect more and more frequent deliveries from wholesalers, while pharmacies are trying to reduce the number of daily deliveries. In such a situation, expensive drugs with a low margin will not be available "on the spot" for the patient. In addition, many pharmacies will not be able to afford loans for expensive drugs and wait a dozen or so days for the refund to be returned.

The suggestion of the Ministry of Health that wholesalers should increase margins on non-reimbursed drugs is unacceptable for ZPHF.

Source: NIA