Europharm closes six drug warehouses due to mark-up cuts

Drug distributor Europharm, held by the UK giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), leader of the Romanian pharmaceutical market, will close down 6 of its 17 warehouses, with the company having the most extensive logistical network on the pharmaceutical market. “The project we started in August 2007, to create a better storage infrastructure, has also helped us prepare to meet these mark-up cuts,” said Margareta Mares, general manager of Europharm Distributie. According to the measures taken by the Ministry of Health, which began this autumn, the maximum mark-up for drug distributors is set to fall from 16% to 14%, and to 10% for drugs with a producer price of over 100 RON. Margareta Mares added that during this period distributors were required to make an even greater effort because they have to prepare for the implementation of Good Distribution Practice (which will become mandatory as of summer 2008), with the price of drugs continuously going down, and the deadline for payments remaining long (120 days).