Pfizer considers restructuring distribution in Europe

Pfizer is assessing the possibility of extending its Spanish model for the direct distribution of medicines to pharmacists throughout Europe.

'The European market is very fragmented. Each country has its own regulations and habits. Currently, we are evaluating models for several markets,' Oliver Stohlmann, Pfizer's European spokesman, said.

The work is at a 'very early' stage. 'It is still too early to say when, where or what types of change we are planning to apply in terms of the distribution of our medicines,' he said.

Pfizer is considering the strategy with a view to securing the supply chain to try and prevent counterfeits entering it.

The models will be applied to the entire range of Pfizer products, and not only to some compounds with high sales and likely to be counterfeited, such as Viagra (sildenafil) or the world's best-selling drug, Lipitor (atorvastatin).

In the Spanish market the company retains a proportion of its ownership rights on medicines and has committed to refunding distributors with any potential financial costs linked to the regulation of the pharmaceutical market. It also commits to keeping pharmacists' data anonymous.

The distributers criticise Pfizer for reducing them to the rank of logistics centres and wanting to set sales prices with the pharmacists, independently of a possible obligatory price reduction imposed by the health insurance scheme.

Under a Spanish-type scheme Pfizer would also have a direct insight into the market for its medicines and even for each pharmacy supplied.