US Government Makes Effort to Protect Medicine Distribution, says New Report

Aug. 4, 2009 - PRLog -- Piribo, the online destination for business intelligence for the biotech and pharmaceutical industry, has added a new report giving an overview of the distribution of medicines in the US.

“Pharmaceutical Distribution in the US Current and Future Perspectives” which is available at http://tinyurl.com/l89du4 reports that in 2008 the US pharmaceutical wholesale market was worth $275bn.

However, authors of the report note that the system faces numerous external threats, including counterfeiting, terrorism and disruption resulting from man-made and natural disasters. Industry challenges include the dominance of three wholesalers, growth of mail order and the wave of pharmacy consolidation.

For this reason, the report shows that, in recent years, the US government and interested parties have made increasing efforts to protect the national supply chain for medicines distribution. Since it represents the means for medicines to reach patients, any breaches in the system would be catastrophic and could affect millions of people.

The report further shows that the US supply chain is set to undergo great changes in the next decade. Although a number of external factors will have an impact, the complex relationship between each of the parties in the supply chain will be the most important.

Some key findings from this report include:

* McKesson, AmerisourceBergen and Cardinal Health Inc, known as the 'Big Three', account for between 90-95% of revenue within the US pharmaceutical wholesale sector.
*It is estimated that US chain drug stores currently account for 41% of all prescription sales, with the dominant players being Walgreens and CVS Caremark.
* A change from wholesale to direct distribution in the US is unlikely. A US wide direct distribution model would cost the pharmaceutical industry $47.9bn to operate. This would be 15.5% increase on current distribution costs.

“Pharmaceutical Distribution in the US Current and Future Perspectives” is available from Piribo. For more information go to:  
http://www.piribo.com/publications/pharmacy/distribution/...

Piribo product ID: URC00166

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About Piribo.
Piribo (http://www.piribo.com/publications/pharmacy/distribution/...) is a UK-based independent online store supplying business information on the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. The website now carries over 16,000 English language titles including, market reports, studies and books and is the UK’s largest online biopharma information store. Subscribers receive a free monthly newsletter and email alerts on new titles in their areas of interest. The company was established in 2004.