Pharmaceutical purchasing

Another change is the diminishing role of the individual physician in pharmaceutical purchasing. Increasingly, decisions are being taken by a formulary committee —experts from pharmacy, medicine and other fields. With this transition, the traditionally information-sparse ( infopenic ), 5-7-minute detailing of individual physicians is fading from the scene, replaced by information-intensive ( infotensive ) presentations to a com-... 

The pharmaceutical purchasing process is continuous (Figure 10.1). Drugs are ordered, received, drug inventory is managed, and the purchasing cycle is complete when pharmaceuticals are returned or destroyed. 

In addition to contracting for research on the pharmaceutical R D process, OTA sought out other sources of data bearing on costs of R D and returns to the industry from these activities. Data availability was a major problem, particularly data on domestic and worldwide sales of new drugs introduced to the U.S. market during specific time intervals. OTA was able to purchase limited data on domestic sales from IMS America, Inc., a market research firm specializing in surveys of pharmaceutical purchases and prescriptions, but was required to rely mainly on a sales data analysis conducted for other purposes by the Food and D r u g A d ministration. OTA was also able to contract with Stephen Schondelmeyer of Purdue University to provide a report on pharmaceutical sales for drugs that have recently lost patent protection based on IMS America data. 

The advent of a large international trade in methanol as a chemical feedstock has prompted additional purchase specifications, depending on the end user. Chlorides, which would be potential contaminants from seawater during ocean transport, are common downstream catalyst poisons likely to be excluded. Limitations on iron and sulfur can similarly be expected. Some users are sensitive to specific by-products for a variety of reasons. Eor example, alkaline compounds neutralize MTBE catalysts, and ethanol causes objectionable propionic acid formation in the carbonylation of methanol to acetic acid. Very high purity methanol is available from reagent vendors for small-scale electronic and pharmaceutical appHcations. 

Quality control tests or improvement of existing processes. Raw materials from various sources can be used in the manufacture of fine chemicals and pharmaceuticals. The raw materials can contain different impurities at various concentrations. Therefore, before the raw material is purchased and used in a full-scale batch its quality should be tested in a small-scale reactor. Existing full-scale procedures are subject to continuous modifications for troubleshooting and for improving process performance. Laboratory reactors used for tests of these two kinds are usually down-scaled reactors or reactors being a part of the full scale-reactor. 

Aaserud, M., Dahlgren, A. T., Kosters, J. P. et al. (2006). Pharmaceutical policies effects of reference pricing, other pricing, and purchasing policies. Cochrane Database Syst. Rev., 19(2), CD005979. 

Fine chemicals These are produced in small volumes and purchased on the basis of chemical composition, purity and price. Examples are chloropropylene oxide (used for the manufacture of epoxy resins, ion-exchange resins and other products), dimethyl formamide (used, for example, as a solvent, reaction medium and intermediate in the manufacture of pharmaceuticals), n-butyric acid (used in beverages, flavorings, fragrances and other products) and barium titanate powder (used for the manufacture of electronic capacitors). 

Specialty or effect or functional chemicals These are purchased because of their effect (or function), rather than their chemical composition. Examples are pharmaceuticals, pesticides, dyestuffs, perfumes and flavorings. 

Because commodity and fine chemicals tend to be purchased on the basis of their chemical composition alone, they are undifferentiated. For example, there is nothing to choose between 99.9% benzene made by one manufacturer and that made by another manufacturer, other than price and delivery issues. On the other hand, specialty chemicals tend to be purchased on the basis of their effect or function and are therefore differentiated. For example, competitive pharmaceutical products are differentiated according to the efficacy of the product, rather than chemical composition. An adhesive is purchased on the basis of its ability to stick things together, rather than its chemical composition and so on. 

We define the co-insurance rate or co-payment rate as the (fixed) percentage of the sum that insurees are required to pay out of their own pocket at the moment of purchase. For example, in Spain it is 40 per cent for the employed and for the great majority of listed pharmaceuticals. Some authors use the term co-payment to mean the fixed sum per package that is paid by the user, independently of the price. 

Figure 7.1 shows the situation for an individual consumer with a particular health status. If pharmaceuticals were conventional goods and coverage were complete, that is, without co-payment, the user would purchase the quantity gmax,m other words, carry on consuming until the next package no longer... 

Manufacturers of today s modem NMR spectrometers normally offer a number of different models of instruments that are capable of measuring solid state NMR spectra. Usually, a dedicated solid state NMR instrument is available along with solution-phase models that are capable of solids work with the purchase of an additional solids accessory package. For any pharmaceutical company that is contemplating the purchase of an NMR for solids work, it is this author s opinion... 

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