Member Article

Durham’s Quantum Pharmaceutical appointed supplier to Co-op pharmacy’s new owner

County Durham-based pharmaceutical manufacturer Quantum Pharmaceutical has been appointed by Bestway, Co-op Pharmacy’s new owner, as a supplier to its Well Pharmacy chain.

Under the agreement, Quantum will supply all unlicensed medicines and special obtain products to each of Bestway’s 774 pharmacies which it acquired from Co-operative Pharmacy last year (October 2014). It was announced last month (10th February 2015) that the stores would be rebranded Well Pharmacy.

‘Specials’ are niche products that are prescribed by doctors for specific indications in cases for which a licensed product does not exist or is no longer available.

Mainstream forms of licensed medication are unsuitable for many patients for various reasons; for instance those fed via enteral tubes, suffering from dysphagia, who struggle to take tablets or may be prescribed liquid specials.

Specials may also be prescribed for patients with allergies to certain ingredients or those who simply require a non-standard strength, dose or dosage form in order to effectively treat their condition.

Brian Fisher, group commercial director of Quantum Pharma Plc, said: “In the last few years, we’ve invested in our people, in our infrastructure and in giving customers more choice.

“We’ve done this so that we can continue providing the industry’s fastest response to pharmacies’ and patients’ needs ― whether we stock the item they need, manufacture it ourselves or source it from one of our 400+ suppliers, they can count on us.

“We are delighted to have won such an important contract and look forward to working with Well in the future as we continue to increase our customer base across the unlicensed medicine and special obtains market.”

Quantum Pharmaceutical is a subsidiary of Quantum Pharma. The company manufactures and supplies specials and special obtains to some of the UK’s largest pharmacy chains, pharmaceutical wholesalers, hospitals, independent pharmacies and dispensing doctors.