Short-Dated Drug Inventories Minimized Through Online Service
(PRWEB) May 11, 2005
Due to over production or decreased demand, drug makers build up inventories of pharmaceuticals that have limited expiration windows, referred to as short-dated products. It is estimated that the $220 billion US pharmaceutical market generates about $4.4 billion worth of short-dated products each year. These short-dated products usually end up being donated or are destroyed by their manufacturers, costing billions of dollars. Some companies attempt to utilize their standard sales forces to unload these products. But because these products are sold at lower prices, and there are less of them, company sales representatives donÂ’t have the financial incentives to sell them. As a result, these standard sales channels are not very effective.
Now, some companies have begun using a new online service called ShortMeds (www. shortmeds. com) to get the word out to healthcare distributors and pharmacies that they have short-dated products available at discounted prices. Manufacturers publish their products, and then ShortMeds alerts its 250 registered company buyers of the new postings via email. The buyers go to the site, login and request the products they want to purchase. Some companies posting short-dated products have even elected to accept bids, based on company submitted target prices. ShortMeds then alerts each respective manufacturer, who then contacts the buyers and closes the sales.
Currently, there are over 1,500 products worth over $3.3 million posted on ShortMeds. With an administration fee that is a fraction of the cost of a full-page journal ad, companies are seeing returns on investment of over 2000% when they use the ShortMeds service.
John Matthews, President of ShortMeds, says, “It’s really just an extension of a company’s sales force and a centralized location where buyers can do some one-stop shopping. And because we don’t take possession of the products nor do we process the funds, it allows the posting companies to maintain control of the situation. Sales can easily be tracked back to ShortMeds and returns on investment can be calculated, unlike most advertising.”
ShortMeds is located in St. Louis, Missouri and is a division of Incentials, LLC.
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