The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business

Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMIAN pharmacies yesterday said it was too early to determine the financial impact after three-month, lower-margin price control regime came to an end.

Clinton McCartney, head pharmacist at McCartney’s Pharmacy, told Tribune Business that business was too “slow at the moment” to properly assess the effects on industry and customers after the regime implemented in early November ceased in accordance with the Government’s Order.

“Things haven’t really changed since last week,” he said. “We are getting our prices adjusted now, but it just came into effect today so we will see how the rest of the week goes. But we haven’t heard any complaints yet.”

Another pharmacist, speaking under condition of anonymity, addded: “Everything is fine right now. We need to change a few more things but I have to wait and see what the BPA (Bahamas Pharmaceutical Association) has to say because I can only speak for myself and not for the rest of the industry.

“It’s going to take us a while to get all of those prices changed in the store. It will take least two to three days because we have to change everything over again. That is stressful.”

The Association reminded its members last week that the price control regime implemented in November was due to expire yesterday, and the Government has stuck to the agreed January 17, 2023, expiration. Pharmacies are now adjusting shelf, product and system pricing as they revert to the price control margins that existed prior to last November.

Another pharmacist, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “We were looking for the end of those price controls and that will definitely be a big difference in the store for us. I guess the Government tried to do something and it didn’t work out too well in the end, but let’s see how things will look later on. I hope they don’t have to come back and do this again in another few months.

“The old or new price control measures didn’t matter much to me because we have to follow the Government’s mandate and go along with the changes they ask for. There is nothing we can really do about it so we just have to go with the flow.”

The present price controls were agreed by the Government and pharmaceutical industry in early November 2022 as a means to settle the dispute that erupted after the former, without any consultation, introduced changes the prior month that slashed both retail and wholesale margins in a bid to combat the cost of living crisis.

The sector and the Davis administration ultimately traded-off higher mark-ups with an expanded list of price controlled items that increased by ten medications. As a result, for just over two months now, pharmaceutical wholesalers and retailers have enjoyed one set mark-up across the board, at 20 percent and 40 percent respectively, for all price-controlled items in a move that simplified the structure.

It placed the price control mark-ups for wholesalers at a slightly higher level than the Government was initially proposing, between 15-18 percent, but some five percentage points less than the 25 percent they have enjoyed for the past 40 years.

As for retail pharmacies, the agreed 40 percent was at the top end of the range initially proposed by the Government. The Davis administration had sought a cut to between 35 percent to 40 percent, but the mark-up was ultimately some ten percentage points less (a 20 percent reduction in percentage terms) than the 50 percent that pharmacies have enjoyed for the past decade.

In return for the Government keeping the margins at the upper end of its target range, the pharmacy industry also agreed to expand the price-controlled medications by ten items to include cancer and kidney treatment drugs.