Sigma Pharmaceuticals changes tack, with less reliance on PBS

Sigma Pharmaceuticals is tweaking its pharmacy offering, moving away from a reliance on government revenue.

Sigma Pharmaceuticals CEO Mark Hooper is updating the network

Sigma Pharmaceuticals is tweaking its pharmacy offering to further diversify its stores, moving away from a reliance on government revenue through the pharmaceutical benefits scheme.

Sigma chief Mark Hooper said there was an increased demand for pharmacy services because of the ageing population, but the government was looking to pay less for the historical role of pharmacies: dispensing medicine.

“We are trying to work with our retail customers and say you can leverage off that heritage as a provider of healthcare services and products, but you can do other things in that setting,” he added. “There are ways to diversify away from the pressure that the government is bringing to bear because of what they are looking to do with lower expenditure in terms of the cost of drugs and what they pay for it to be dispensed.”

Mr Hooper said historically the industry had been fairly static, but over the past five years there had been enormous change.

He highlighted that the cost of older drugs on the PBS had come down significantly, which created a different dynamic in terms of the profitability of pharmacies.

“Pharmacies need to be more proactive in looking for other solutions for that and that is the role we think we can play in helping them do that,” he said.

In response to the changing dynamics, Sigma is updating its pharmacy network, including repositioning its leading pharmacy brands, Amcal and Guardian.

Mr Hooper said the drug distributor and chemist group was rolling out a range of new initiatives this week around the theme of the pharmacist being the centre of everything.

“We are big believers that the longer-term competitive advantage pharmacies have is the healthcare environment they operate in and the healthcare advice they provide,” he said.

He said the update of Amcal, which includes the launch of Amcal Plus, would see the pharmacy positioned as a “full support” offering where it can be in locations such as shopping centres. The Sigma boss said Guardian Pharmacies would remain more community focused, with lower support from a Sigma perspective.

Mr Hooper said Amcal had been known as a full service pharmacy, while Guardian had focused more on the local community setting.

“While both brands have a strong heritage in pharmacy I think we felt there wasn’t the clarity of difference between the two,” he said.

Sigma yesterday officially launched Amcal Plus, the brand’s new premium retail offer to members. The company is also planning a major expansion in Guardian Pharmacies by making it easier for rival pharmacies to join the retail brand by offering a new membership structure.