Some pharmacies sell their entire inventories into the so-called “gray market” — the long distribution chain in which a number of companies including pharmacies and distributors buy and re-sell drugs before selling to the final hospital or healthcare facility purchaser.
The report, co-authored by Sens. John Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) and Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), finds that some companies have pharmacy licenses for the sole purpose of buying and selling drugs in short supply.
At a Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation hearing in which the report was released, Patricia Early of the National Coalition of Pharmaceutical Distributors, a traded group that represents secondary drug distributors, defended the role smaller distributors play in the industry, but cautioned hospitals to be on the look out for outliers offering shady deals.
“The NCPD recommends that hospitals work with their trusted secondary distributor to fill needs that primary distributors may not be able to provide and report offers from a distributor they do not know or medicine that is offered at a price well below or well above that offered by other distributors to regulatory agencies,” Ms. Earl said in a statement.
Last year, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) spearheaded investigations into the gray market distribution chain.
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