In a move that would create an $8 billion pharmacy powerhouse, one of the largest drug wholesalers is in talks to merge with its most substantial customer and the leading pharmacy chain. Understandably, it has raised concerns within the industry.
The impending deal — details of which are set to be unveiled on Monday — involves the reverse takeover of ASX-listed Sigma Healthcare by Chemist Warehouse.
Influential industry group, the Pharmacy Guild, has voiced its reservations about the deal, with "significant questions and risks" related to patient care, community pharmacy ownership and competition in the sector.
Its concerns extend to the potential impact on the government's community service obligation (CSO) wholesaling program, which makes it commercially viable for drug wholesalers to supply PBS medicines to over 5,800 chemists nationwide.
The Pharmacy Guild has called upon both federal and state governments, as well as the competition regulator, to promptly assess and address these risks. It has also cautioned against what it perceives as the growing corporatisation of local pharmacies.
“For many decades, the community pharmacy model has guaranteed patients access to vital and life-saving medications without putting profit over patient care,” said a spokesperson for the Guild.
“Fundamental to this outcome is pharmacist-owned community pharmacies combined with a limit on the number of community pharmacies owned, due to the duty of care and clinical governance responsibilities associated with medicines, medicine administration, counselling and patient care.”
The spokesperson acknowledged that franchising could support multiple pharmacies, provided there is oversight. However, the Guild has consistently opposed the entry of large corporate entities, such as supermarkets, into the pharmacy sector.
This development highlights the ongoing debate surrounding the Australian pharmacy industry's ownership and regulatory landscape,
With the Chemist Warehouse-Sigma Healthcare deal at the forefront of industry discussions, it highlights the ongoing debate surrounding the Australian pharmacy industry's ownership and regulatory landscape.