Since 2009, by when the pound had significantly weakened against the Euro, there has been a monthly published list of UK branded medicines said to be in short supply in the UK market, that should therefore not be purchased in the UK for export. The list is published by PSNC each month to Pharmacy Contractors via their newsletter, but is however accessible to all via free subscription at: www.psnc.org.uk. Wholesale dealers therefore need to be aware of the list and adhere to it unless they wish to risk incurring penalties.
Since January 2010 there have been very few changes indeed in the list, which essentially comprises about 35 products (some in more than one strength) where it appears that the relevant manufacturers are totally unwilling to supply the UK market beyond the bare minimum to meet UK patients prescription needs in order to discourage exporting. As a result the minute that any such products are exported, the UK market goes short, with highly unfortunate additional workload created for UK pharmacists just to obtain stock for their prescription patients.
UK pharmacists have been told in no uncertain terms that if they wish to trade in Pharmaceuticals by wholesale (for example to sell medicines for export) then they need to first obtain a Wholesale dealers license, which takes considerable time, cost and effort. The relevant UK inspection agency (the MHRA) staffed up in 2010 to cope with the additional license applications received both from pharmacists and others, but application waiting times from submission still typically take at least 2-3 months. The vast majority of independent pharmacists have not however applied for such licenses, the majority of such license applications are understood to have come from chains of pharmacies with a central warehouse, and/or by chains of pharmacies owned by wholesalers.
It does seem a complete anathema that whilst UK pharmacists are ALL 100% assumed to have used Parallel Imports where they exist, by being forcibly reimbursed for dispensing at the lower PI price than the UK branded price, when it comes to parallel exporting, severe penalties are threatened. It appears that UK pharmacists can’t have their cake and export it!