Pfizer Australia's new business model goes live today
Monday January 31 Announces a range of enhancements to new model Pfizer Australia has announced important enhancements to its new business model, which comes into effect today. The enhancements include the introduction of interim arrangements regarding delivery fees, as well as extensions to both the critical products and general products lists.
From today Pfizer will be selling its prescription medicines directly to community pharmacy. This means Pfizer will no longer sell its prescription medicines for community pharmacies to wholesalers.
Mark Crotty, General Manager of Pfizer Established Products Business Unit says Pfizer has conducted extensive consultation with the community pharmacy sector since announcing the new arrangements in December last year. "The Pfizer Established Pharmacy (PEP) field force, Customer Service staff and many Pfizer senior managers have been meeting with pharmacists and stakeholders across the country, answering their queries, listening to their concerns and getting their feedback."
"We are encouraged by the feedback and inquiries we received from our customers over the past two months. We understand that this is a big change for pharmacy but we are confident that our competitive offers and service standards will be well received."
As a result of all these discussions and consultations, Pfizer made further enhancements to its new business model to assist pharmacists in their business dealings with Pfizer.
From 31 January 2011 until 1 April 2011, Pfizer will introduce interim arrangements regarding delivery fees where the second and third order placed in the same week will not attract a delivery fee. This will give pharmacies an additional two months in which to establish their ordering patterns and become comfortable with the new ordering system. The PEP field force will work with pharmacies to assist them in this process.
Pfizer has also enhanced its critical products list by 15 additional medicines. This list, prepared by Pfizer's Country Medical Director, contains products which may be categorised as life saving, life sustaining or where there is no therapeutic alternative. Products on this list do not incur a delivery fee and are delivered within 24 hours regardless of when the order is placed.
"Another enhancement is the addition of 119 specialty care medicines to the general products list. These medicines are usually sold into hospital pharmacies but some community pharmacies need to stock them for their customers," said Mr Crotty.
"We understand that one of pharmacy's main concerns is around delivery standards," explained Mr Crotty. "Our agreement with our logistics service provider, DHL, means that all pharmacies will get next business day delivery if orders are placed before the 1pm cut off time, with the exception of 17 pharmacies classified as remote where deliveries will take around two business days."
"We have established a Monitoring Committee with senior representatives from both the Pharmacy Guild of Australia and Pfizer to monitor performance, delivery times and ensure that any issues are resolved quickly and that pharmacists have a voice," said Mr Crotty. The Monitoring Committee has already met to set up procedures for reviewing and resolving any disputes which may arise with the new model.