Setting up an independent pharmacy

miss choc

I am thinking of setting up a independent pharmacy down the country with my friend who is a pharmacist. I was wondering how I go about it was associations I need to contact also distributors. Do I contact the manufacturers direct or are there distributors in Ireland that act as the middle men for products. I want to get the legalities sorted first and find various suppliers for quotes.

maxwell smart

Almost all pharma products on sale in Ireland are sourced through distributors. This is due to the need for all medicine to comply with the regulations for Ireland. These are things like the PIL, type of blisters and packaging quantity.
I'd contact the distributors first.
Just a question, if your setting up a pharmacy, can I assume your a pharmacist? And if so, surely you've worked in a pharmacy and have come across the above information?

PhatPiggins

miss choc wrote: »

I am thinking of setting up a independent pharmacy down the country with my friend who is a pharmacist. I was wondering how I go about it was associations I need to contact also distributors. Do I contact the manufacturers direct or are there distributors in Ireland that act as the middle men for products. I want to get the legalities sorted first and find various suppliers for quotes.

I'm thinking of starting my own airline. I'll tell you how to run a pharmacy if you tell me how to fly planes!

The Guvnor

I don't see the need to rubbish her idea. If she has the available resources and a qualified pharmacist to run it then apart from jumping through a few red tape hoops, setting up the pharmacy should be a damn site easier than an airline!

I would ask your pharmacist friend which organisations need contacting. He/she must have an idea of where to go to get the process started.

Best of luck.

antoinolachtnai

A new pharmacy 'down the country' is going to require quite a while to build up the business. I would suggest buying an existing pharmacy.

mickdw

I thought the government controlled the numbers of pharmacy in towns with licencing? Maybe not. Its a good idea. What would it cost to set up?

antoinolachtnai

I don't think they control it anymore.

To set up, I don't know, but the thing to remember is that it's all about retail. Just because you are qualified as a pharmacist does not mean that you know how to run a retail operation.

Colpriz

You might get some info if you could speak with somebody in the Royal college of surgeons, surely your pharma friend knows more on that. I'm assuming he is the brains and you are the investor...also interested in the proposed cost of this to set up?..any figures yet? The best of luck

Chevy RV

I know a private individual who is NOT a pharmacist ( he's actually an MBA instead ) and he has a couple of pharmacies already. He is very experienced in this area having set up around half a dozen new shops over the last 7-8 years since de-regulation came in. I think it would be a good idea for you to talk to a guy like that who can point out the potential pitfalls that you are likely to encounter and also give you a realistic assessment of the likely returns involved.

You cam PM me if you wish to talk to him.


Regards,


Chevy RV

softwing

I'm looking for a an established pharmacy distibutor in covering the Irish market with an established clientelle to market a new product. Does anyone have any good contacts in this line?

kevmacc

Depends what the product is, is it ethical or consumer, I presume consumer?

The Guvnor

United Drug are the biggest distributors.
There is another company much smaller - they distribute Uniflu, not sure of name ATM.

A lot of the distributors seem to be owned by UD.

My view on this would have to be do you need a distributor - what will they realistically do for you apart from take their 25%?

I would if I were you approach the large chains of pharmacy's directly. 20% of the shops do over 80% of the business. So you could quite rightly forget about the minor shops and focus on the chains.

My $0.02

Ethical or Consumer - can you expand on what you mean by ethical?

kevmacc

Sorry, by ethical I mean somthing that can only be prescribed.

As The Guvnor said, I would approach the chains first, I work for one of the bigger chains in the market and get calls regularly in people in the same situation as you.

I'm not in purchasing myself, but if you send me a pm with details I can point you in the right direction.

Some suppliers tend to avoid chains though, as in alot of cases there is more margin for the supplier if they focus solely on the smaller pharmacies who wouldn't have the buying power.

The Guvnor

Thanks Kevin.

I thought you meant POM. However with my tongue firmly in my cheek is every POM product ethical?

If I were to approach a pharmacy I would much rather opt for a chain with 20-30 stores in prime locations. Meet one person get a result with potential for roll out in 30 stores.

As for price - one would have to expect a bit of hard negotiating on price but that is part and parcel of being in business.

softwing

Hi Guys, thanks for the helpful advice. I thought perhaps going straight to the horses mouth would be useful, so called a couple of pharmacies to ask who supplied their products and UD certainly seemed to have the bigger market share.
I do agree re dealing directly and the larger profit share, however, we are getting this new business off the ground while still trying to keep our feet in other jobs, so the luxury of driving the country on a sales run is a difficult option at the moment.