That this House shares the concerns expressed by pharmacists and dispensing clinicians about the potential impact on patient access to essential medicines of Pfizer's proposals for distributing its pharmaceutical products in the United Kingdom; believes that the new distribution arrangements represent an unacceptable risk by placing responsibility for distributing Pfizer's essential medicines to every pharmacy throughout the United Kingdom with just one company; notes that earlier this year Pfizer ran out of their own treatment for high blood pressure and the supply chain was only restored by access to stocks of the drug held within the existing network of distributors; recognises the bureaucratic burden these proposals would place on pharmacists at the expense of patient contact time; is concerned that the proposed arrangements might undermine NHS budgets and eradicate the choice and competition required to keep drug costs down and quality of service up within the NHS; and therefore calls upon the Government to ensure that Pfizer's anti-competitive, anti-community pharmacy, anti-patient and anti-NHS proposals are investigated by the appropriate agencies as a matter of urgency.

That this House shares the concerns expressed by pharmacists and dispensing clinicians about the potential impact on patient access to essential medicines of Pfizer's proposals for distributing its pharmaceutical products in the United Kingdom; believes that the new distribution arrangements represent an unacceptable risk by placing responsibility for distributing Pfizer's...

That this House expresses deep concern over the decision by Pfizer to award the contract for sole supplying of its pharmaceutical products to one wholesaler Unichem; is alarmed that this has created a de facto monopoly for Unichem in that pharmacies have no choice about who they deal with if they want to purchase Pfizer products; is concerned that whereas choice and competition have kept prices down this action will lead to a worse deal for local pharmacists, the NHS and ultimately the general public; is deeply alarmed that if Unichem had a crisis in its distribution then other wholesalers would be unable to fill the gap left and thus people might not get the pharmaceutical products they absolutely rely on; and calls on the Office of Fair Trading and the Department of Health to investigate this issue with a focus on, respectively, the effect of this decision on unfair business practices and public health.

That this House expresses deep concern over the decision by Pfizer to award the contract for sole supplying of its pharmaceutical products to one wholesaler Unichem; is alarmed that this has created a de facto monopoly for Unichem in that pharmacies have no choice about who they deal with if...