Alternate vendors vie for veterinary product sales

As prices for pet drugs and products rise so do the number of retailers selling goods once exclusively found in the veterinarian's office.

If animal owners aren't shopping at the nation's largest Internet pet pharmacy, PetMed Express, they're likely visiting a number of online Canadian drug retailers, catalogue stores or auction houses. Products traditionally sold by practitioners to beef up their bottom lines are now pilfered by outside distributors, even auctioned on Ebay.

Dr. Elizabeth Curry-Galvin

It's tough to gauge just how much product and drug revenue leaves veterinary practices each year, says Dr. Elizabeth Curry-Galvin, American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) assistant director of scientific activities. Unregulated food or flea and tick products are more easily sold by outside sources than prescription drugs. Yet PetMed Express' most recent financial statements show a company once riddled by state and federal regulatory fines rapidly growing in profits and size.

"Online pharmacies in the United States have to be registered with their states' boards, and I can tell you that their numbers are climbing," Curry-Galvin says. "There are new registrants every day."

Online pet pharmacies might offer savings to owners, but Canadian pharmacies go one step further. Spurred by the consumer movement buying human drugs from Canadian retailers at lower costs, owners are now attempting to purchase pet products at similar savings. Couple the exchange rate and drug manufacturers' lower costs to Canadian retailers, the disparity can be great, Curry-Galvin says.

Canadian buys break law

But that doesn't make it legal, she adds.

"All drugs coming into the United States must be FDA-approved with FDA (Food and Drug Administration) labeling," she says. "Even if the drug was made in the United States, the FDA has not regulated it across the border. The re-importation of drugs is turning into a huge issue."

Any person buying drugs from other countries including Canada must first be recognized as a drug importer. Unless a DVM is registered, Curry-Galvin recommends veterinarians not write prescriptions to pharmacies located across U.S. lines.

"The take-home message I get from the FDA is that buying or prescribing drugs from Canada is not legal," she says. "Yes, it's happening. Is the FDA cracking down on it right now? I don't think so. But I wouldn't advise veterinarians or consumers to take that risk."

Pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer and Merial steadfastly deny selling products to online pharmaceutical companies. Instead, veterinarians likely purchase products in bulk for resale to Internet outlets, keeping the companies in business, Curry-Galvin says.

How online stores stock products

Internet retailers regularly solicit veterinarians, offering big money to buy large quantities of prescription products, food and flea and tick preventative for resale to online stores. Kim Allen, head of Association of Veterinary Distributors, reaffirms this veterinarian channel, stating that drug distributors in general remain loyal to veterinarians and manufacturers.

"I think all distributors have thought about selling direct to customers; there's a lot of money in it," she says. "But I'm not aware that there's anyone out there who's done it. It's just not something we'd do."

At least one direct-to-consumer channel plans to work in cooperation with the veterinary profession.

Working with practitioners

Pets Vets and You, a veterinarian shareholder-owned Web site development company headed up by Tampa, Fla., native Dr. Eddie Garcia is working on agreements with several pharmaceutical companies to garner special consideration on pricing for products. If the deal moves forward, "veterinarians will embrace this company," Garcia says.

"We're in negotiation stages with a company to compete outright with PetMed Express," he says. "Our philosophy is to do this ethically and professionally by educating the pet owner. We'll keep the profession in the loop. We want veterinarians to take back control of this marketplace."