Source: Comunique-se - RJ - 27/07/2009

The fight for the market has reached the large, medium and small pharmaceutical chains. For specialists, the pharmaceutical retail will undergo major changes in the next two or three years. This is because the adoption of the tax substitution regime and the introduction of electronic invoices in the market started to choke certain drugstores that managed to survive thanks to tax evasion.

This formalization movement made large supermarket chains turn their eyes to this market. But it also caused companies like Farmácia Unimed Uberlândia, which believes in business as an environment to promote health, to focus even more on its activities in providing customer services, as according to data from the World Health Organization (WHO), about 80 % of patients enter the pharmacy with any type of doubt regarding the medication. “This should be the main role of the pharmaceutical establishment: to ensure patient compliance with treatment, through technical guidance and health education programs, such as rational use of medicines”, points out the pharmacist and coordinator of Farmácia Unimed Uberlândia, Cleuber Pacheco da Silva.

According to the pharmacist, the goal of Pharmacy Unimed is to offer a service that brings peace and security to all people. “The home delivery service is already known, but the difference of“ Farmácia Unimed goes to you ”is that we deliver the order anywhere in the city, without additional cost, starting at R $ 15,00 per prescription. Regarding prescription drugs, we look for a prescription and after ordering, we take customers safely and confidentially ”, explains Pacheco.

Convenience also for company employees

The main objective of the service is to bring convenience to people and also to companies that do not have the time to purchase medicines. The work done with companies is also different. "In this case, the person in charge of the human resources department of the companies does the job of collecting the revenues of its employees and it is up to the Pharmacy Unimed to collect and deliver the medicines, with the payment system via employee paycheck," details Cleuber.

Another novelty of Farmácia Unimed is the service hours, which was extended until 20 pm on site and also with the delivery service. “We see the need for this adaptation to better serve our customers. We will also have new areas of activity with work aimed at chronic degenerative diseases ”, says Cleuber Pacheco.

National market

The consultant Alexandre Pierantoni, from PricewaterhouseCoopers, says that pharmaceutical retail is one of the sectors with the greatest potential for consolidation in the country, alongside the health and education sectors. For the president of the Brazilian Association of Pharmacy and Drugstore Networks Abrafarma, Sérgio Mena Barreto, the 25 chains associated with the entity that operate within the formality registered an increase of 24% in sales between January to April this year. However, the pharmaceutical market, in that same period, grew around 11%. “This year, the networks affiliated to Abrafarma will still maintain a 20% growth rate”, predicts Sérgio Mena Barreto.