
Medical Pharmacy Shares Its Year-End Profit with $2.9M in Revenue
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Pharmacies have seen a sharp rise in sales in the last year, but that’s not necessarily due to better-than-expected holiday shopping.
As the holiday season draws to a close, the sector is finding ways to compete with its peers.
In the last quarter, PharmacyCorp.
reported $2,838 million in revenue, which is down 10.5 per cent from the year ago quarter.
The company said that was primarily due to lower volumes of generic drugs and increased prices of brand-name drugs.
“This quarter’s record revenue is largely attributable to lower volume of branded and generic medicines,” said Michael Pappas, vice-president of pharmacy strategy at Pharmacy Corp. “In the last few months, the industry has witnessed significant consolidation in the specialty pharmacy space, and we are seeing the effects in this quarter.”
The company’s profits also came in below expectations, as the drug category continues to face tough competition from generic alternatives and generic drugs that are less expensive.
The number of patients who use pharmacy as a primary care provider dropped by 15.9 per cent in the quarter.
In fact, the number of prescriptions filled per patient decreased by nearly five per cent.
And, of those who use the service, more than half of them do so for less than $5 per day, up from 37 per cent last year.
Overall, the company saw a 6.3 per cent increase in total revenue.
Pharmacy’s business has grown in recent years, especially during the recession.
But the industry is now in the midst of an upswing and is seeing increased competition from newer and cheaper generics.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported a slight increase in prescription drug usage during the fourth quarter.
But overall, the trend has continued.
In Canada, prescriptions for generic drugs decreased by 4.1 per cent year-over-year.
But in the U.K., the number decreased by 3.6 per cent, according to the British Columbia Medical Association.
In Australia, there was a decrease of 3.5 percent in the number dispensing prescriptions to non-drug-related patients, and the number per patient declined by 3 per cent compared to the same period last year in the same province.
In addition, there were 2.5 million fewer prescriptions written last year compared to last year as a whole.
“The trends that we are witnessing are very, very positive for the pharmacy industry in the United States and Canada,” said Dr. Paul Wintz, CEO of Pharmacy Associates, a national pharmacy consulting firm.
In Canada and the U”
There is an increased demand for pharmacy services from consumers, and there are a number of companies, including those with a strong pharmacy business, looking at the opportunity to grow their business.”
In Canada and the U