On the 26th of September, Saint Cosme and Saint Damian Day are celebrated in Portugal. These saints are the patrons of pharmacists and, therefore, the Pharmacists National Day takes place on that occasion. To signal the event, we spoke to Dr Cristiana Soares, a pharmacist and representative of the National Pharmacies Association for the Cascais Municipality, in Portugal. The following article is the product of that interview and a testimony of the role of the Association (ANF) on the Portuguese pharmaceutical market, but it also targets some points where retail interacts with industry. Read all about it!
The pharmaceutical sector is a heavily regulated one and that is felt also on the pharmacies. Legislation, norms and several decrees regulate pharmaceutical activity, a situation with grows even more due the variety of products available at the Portuguese pharmacies. For Dr Cristiana, a vital help is a well-done digital support system, which warns about the legal aspects of each pharmaceutical act, from the rules of each product category to giving out information if certain pharmaceuticals can be accessible to the public. On the other hand, the National Pharmacies Association (ANF) has a vital role in the life of Portuguese pharmacies.
The ANF is constituted by players in the pharmaceutical market, mostly pharmacies. To these pharmacies, the ANF has a very important role in the maintenance of said pharmacies, as its membership is dedicated to serve pharmacy owners and it is a source of consulting in a wide range of services, such as human resources or legal advice. “It is the institution who represents pharmacies. It lets us know of new legal compromises but it also represents us near the Ministry of Health and other social institutions”, we were told by Dr Cristiana. Furthermore, the ANF has a multitude of services in legal counselling or information systems, among others, which it offers to its associates, actually transforming the pharmacy business into a network activity. Nevertheless, its most obvious role is “representing pharmacies whenever there is a need for institutional support”, a key function in one of the most legally controlled market sectors.
The relevance of the Association for pharmaceutical activities goes even further, also being important for the supply line. Namely, medicines sold in pharmacies must have a permit code from the Medicines and Health Interventions Information Centre (CEDIME), an organization which is part of the ANF. This code “informs us that the medicines can be sold, that they have a quality control”, as Dr Cristiana told us. It is a way to obey to INFARMED requisites, the state organization which, in Portugal, oversees pharmaceutical activities. These requisites are diverse and dependent on a legislation in permanent change, which makes ANF support vital for its proper functioning.
The CEDIME code makes integrating data from several sources a manageable asset in each pharmacy, something which is part of the Portuguese pharmaceutical systems daily routine. In fact, data collection is extensive to diverse areas, such as hydro-thermometer records or storage and stock records, and is verified in recurrent inspections, to which all pharmacies are subject. Usually, medicines are catalogued through a QR Code, so they can be traced and controlled from manufacturing to storage, retail and the end consumer. This integration of data allows for the tracking of lots and, therefore, also makes removing defective products from the market a much easier task.
As for the Portuguese pharmaceutical market, Dr Cristiana Soares disclosed that prescription medicines are the area with the biggest turnover. Nevertheless, some non-prescription products still weight heavily on the scales, such as cold medicines, analgesics and laxatives. Beauty and cosmetics, baby products or orthopaedics also have significant volumes, but are mostly complementary. Also, some services, like nutrition, rapid tests and injectables administration are part of the offer. Among the most sold products we can find paracetamol, cholesterol and diabetes products.
RC REDOL thanks Dr Cristiana Soares for her interview, as now we have a more precise notion of how medicines are delivered to the public. As a matter of fact, this information isn’t usually explored by the industry related press, so we are sure our customers, partners and the public in general, were gifted a renewed comprehension over this vital modern life activity.
RC REDOL, reach new skies!