The pharmacist becomes an entrepreneur: eyes focused on bargaining and economic-financial management. Without forgetting that the law requires clear indications for the customer. Which, however, it is not known how many benefits it will derive from liberalization
Over-the-counter drugs, green light to prices. After 2007, the year of "interregnum" which maintained a maximum reference for each product, from January 2008 the sale price of Otc and Sop will be established independently by each exercise. A sort of Copernican revolution for the pharmacist, used to reasoning on a fixed final rate, from which he often started to calculate top-ups and possible discounts. The imperative is to change the logic FSexplains Ezio Diolaiti, deputy general manager of Unico, the third largest pharmaceutical distributor in Italy: «Some pharmacists feel lost in the absence of a reference price, because they think it is useful for negotiating better with suppliers, but it is a problem psychological. The pharmacist will have to start thinking about the purchase price, which is different in each point of sale, because the supplier's conditions of sale are different; after having examined his management costs, he will have to decide on the mark-up to apply. Bearing in mind that price liberalization does not necessarily mean lower prices. We have been teaching CME courses on pricing techniques and economic-financial management for more than a year. A stimulus for pharmacists to better understand this aspect of their work. Six months ago we published a booklet with a slide rule (which, starting from the purchase price, once the mark-up has been decided, gives me the sale price) and we will come back with operations of this type». Dr. Carlo Benzi, owner of a Milanese pharmacy, is not upset: «It will simply be a matter of thinking about the top-up, as it should already be done with parapharmaceuticals, and as all traders do. The only problem is that the packs will arrive without a price and you will have to affix it or make a price list for the public. Then there will be seasonal discounts, or rather, since it no longer makes sense to talk about discounts in the absence of a final price, promotions. There are management software that establish what the mark-up must be to reach the break-even point. In short, the pharmacist will have to become a little more of an entrepreneur. The negotiation phase is very important: I had to change my way of working, but the results can be seen». «It should be borne in mind», recalls Stefano Brovelli, Bayer's consumer care division director, «that over-the-counter medicines do not all have the same mark-up, but, depending on the category, there are different discount policies, which can range from 25 to 60-70%. So the pharmacy will need to account for a different margin structure for different competitive scenarios. He will be able to work by category (throat, antifungals, analgesics, etc.), remembering that OTC itself is not a category. Furthermore, within the category, it will have to take into account the particular competitive situation of the leading brands. Then the pharmacist, who has to manage more than a thousand references, will have to decide whether to define prices once a year, calibrating the final price on an average purchase price. For its part, it is desirable for the industry to implement a choice of transparency, making its own sale price clear". Diolaiti continues: «Starting from this year, in our price lists we already think on the basis of the net purchase price. After all, the fixed price helps the discount policy which I think is a loser for the pharmacy. Large-scale distribution uses the over-the-counter drug as a red herring to complete the assortment, and offers discounts that it does not have if
