DRUGS AND TREATMENT
HOMECARE PHARMACY
Medco supplies British patients
Berlin - The US company Medco will in the future supply British patients with pharmaceutical products. In cooperation with the Irish wholesaler United Drug, the pharmaceutical trading company lays out a concept for the integration of pharmaceutical care that is to be implemented in close coordination with the National Health Service.
Terminally ill patients who are cared for at home will not only be supplied with prescription drugs by the joint venture (also operating under the name of Medco), but will at the same time also be attended to by mobile nurses employed by the company.
The concept, also labelled “Specialty Pharmacy”, is not new: according to Medco almost £1 billion is currently spent each year in the sector “Homecare Pharmacy”, and this shows a tendency to increase. The service is usually ordered by pharmaceutical manufacturers who pay the providers from their margin. The manufacturers in turn receive the commission from the NHS.
Only recently, the Stuttgart pharmaceuticals trading group Celesio laid out a similar concept with the title “Evolution Homecare”, by means of which patients are supplied at home with drugs that are complex and time-consuming to administer. Celesio cooperates on site with nursing services.
According to the Celesio boss Dr Fritz Oesterle, Britain is the most developed market in Europe in this sector – and thereby the starting point for the in-house homecare industry. Since autumn 2008 the business unit has been under development; several months ago “Evolution Homecare” was able to win a bid to supply around 350 HIV patients in Newcastle.
In addition, other suppliers such as the Swiss mail-order pharmacy Mediservice and the Dutch pharmaceuticals retailer Mediq/OPG are already active in the sector “Specialty Pharmacy”.
Terminally ill patients who are cared for at home will not only be supplied with prescription drugs by the joint venture (also operating under the name of Medco), but will at the same time also be attended to by mobile nurses employed by the company.
The concept, also labelled “Specialty Pharmacy”, is not new: according to Medco almost £1 billion is currently spent each year in the sector “Homecare Pharmacy”, and this shows a tendency to increase. The service is usually ordered by pharmaceutical manufacturers who pay the providers from their margin. The manufacturers in turn receive the commission from the NHS.
Only recently, the Stuttgart pharmaceuticals trading group Celesio laid out a similar concept with the title “Evolution Homecare”, by means of which patients are supplied at home with drugs that are complex and time-consuming to administer. Celesio cooperates on site with nursing services.
According to the Celesio boss Dr Fritz Oesterle, Britain is the most developed market in Europe in this sector – and thereby the starting point for the in-house homecare industry. Since autumn 2008 the business unit has been under development; several months ago “Evolution Homecare” was able to win a bid to supply around 350 HIV patients in Newcastle.
In addition, other suppliers such as the Swiss mail-order pharmacy Mediservice and the Dutch pharmaceuticals retailer Mediq/OPG are already active in the sector “Specialty Pharmacy”.
Patrick Hollstein, Mon, August 31, 2009 09:56am CET
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