4
Dec
2018
Dn
N
Wn
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EBOS and Chemist
Warehouse sign
distribution deal
GPs inclined to accept pharmacists’
recommendations, study shows
THE Chemist Warehouse Group
(CWG) and Symbion’s parent
company, EBOS, have signed their
five-year distribution agreement.
This confirms that EBOS will
become the exclusive wholesale
distributor for the CWG’s more
than 450 stores from 1 July 2019,
with potential for a three-year
extension, according to an
ASX statement.
EBOS estimates the contract
will generate $1 billion revenue in
the first 12 months and recently
told investors it would increase
its share of Community Service
Obligation funds from around
one-third to more than 40%.
The parties announced in
early July that EBOS would take
over from Sigma Healthcare as
the CWG’s exclusive third-party
supplier. Sigma said it was unable
to agree on the terms of a
contract extension.
CWG co-founder and director
Damien Gance said: “EBOS is
the leading pharmaceutical
wholesaler in Australia and New
Zealand. We are pleased to be
partnering with them to assist the
growth of our network.”
GPs are likely to accept
pharmacists’ input on
prescribing, according to an
Australian study.
Over a six-month period,
four pharmacists, including
two community pharmacists,
conducted consultations with 618
patients at 13 general practices
in Western Sydney.
These consultations led to
1601 recommendations, with
1404 (88%) accepted by GPs.
The majority (1169) related
to changes in drug doses,
initiating or ceasing therapy or
formulation changes, 84% of
which were accepted by GPs.
The University of Technology
Sydney researchers report
in the Australian Journal of
Primary Health that 303 of these
recommendations were to
initiate therapy — including
48 to start the patient on blood-
glucose lowering agents (92%
accepted) and 23 to add psycho-
analeptics (96% accepted).
Helen Benson and her
co-authors report that
pharmacists also recommended
that GPs:
• Increase a dose on 174
occasions (89% accepted) and
decrease it on 259 occasions
(82% accepted). Examples
include a recommendation
to increase insulin or reduce
omeprazole.
• Cease anti-thrombotic
agents on 25 occasions
(72% accepted).
• Decrease supplements for 25
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TRUSTED: GPs accept
pharmacist feedback on
prescribing most of the time.
patients (96% accepted).
• Start laboratory monitoring on
138 occasions (97% accepted).
The most common tests were
glycosylated haemoglobin,
vitamin D and ferritin.
• Cease lipid-lowering
medications on 19 occasions
and blood glucose-lowering
medications 39 times. The GPs
accepted only 53% and 56%
of these recommendations
respectively, reflecting
they are more comfortable
with reducing than ceasing
medication, the authors say
The data was drawn from
the WentWest General Practice
Pharmacist Project, aimed at
integrating pharmacists into
general practices.
Of the four pharmacists, one
worked full-time in the general
practices, with two working in
community pharmacy on the
days they were not based in a
general practice.
The patients recruited for the
study had an average age of 69
and had 5.4 comorbidities.
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