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Not
good enough, Mr Schering-Plough, Elocon cream and ointment being
out of stock for about a month altogether, and no close replacement
available.
Knowing
the reason for the prolonged out-of-stock position (not a strike
at the mine nor an Act of God, no, it's time to re-decorate the
factory! -- so in no way unforseen).
I reckon it's time for manufacturers to do their bit in this "Risk-Sharing"
environment that pharmacists have been 'offered' in the PBS i.e
we do more scripts we get less / we do less we get more.
I'd like those odds for the Melbourne Cup!
In
the drug company's board room, the decision is made: the word
is economic rationalism -- we close half of the factories around
the world, they're redundant, and we'll just minimise our risk
of being out of stock
by finding duplicate sources of materials, installing better surveillance
against catastrophes, put in a fire engine at the French's Forest
plant, move the factory from the earthquake fault line in Japan,
and should there be some unforeseen setback, though there will
be some lost sales, the customers will eventually come back to
us..
The shareholders will be happy and that's why we're here.
And when the plant comes back online, do we fly stocks out to
California, where it retails for US$24 (www.drugstore.com price)
or send it to the wrong side of the world, where it wholesales
for A$5.15? Golly that's a hard one.
I
know, I have a friend in that job, he came from Chemical Engineering,
and they call it Risk Management.
And
it's win-win all the way for Mr Schering-Plough.
How about we plough up the playing field to level it?
One suggestion for consideration:
The HIC reduce the price to manufacturer in the next Yellow Book
on a sliding scale...the longer the product is out of stock (beyond
say a fortnight ) the bigger the clawback.
Editor's
Note: This is also happening for emergency drugs in hospitals.
Recently, Parvolex injections disappeared from the shelves, with
the promise of a one month wait. Now the month is up, and there
is an inability for the manufacturer to give a date for supply.
Parvolex is used in the emergency departments of hospitals for
paracetamol poisoning.
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