The medical industry has been growing by leaps and bounds over the years. Drug stores have become an integral part of the medical fraternity. They are retail establishments that market drugs. These may be medicines that are prescribed by doctors or over the counter drugs. The setting up of a drug store involves a set of procedures that need to be followed. As demand for medicines increase with the growing number of physical ailments, the drug store industry is also headed for a boom. The annual sales of the industry is expected to cross $200 billion by 2010.1
[...] The operations of a drug store are governed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) department. With the mushrooming of drug stores all over the nation, involvement by regulators has become mandatory. The drug stores have to comply with the conditions laid down by the FDA in this regard. They have to follow the rules laid down by FDA regarding labeling of over the counter drugs. Apart from the FDA, there are other regulations like over the counter drug manufacturers need to revise product labeling. [...]
[...] If the owner is not a licensed pharmacist, hiring a licensed person is advisable Overview of the drug industry Let us look into the drug industry in the US and how it has been performing over the years. The National Community of Pharmacists Association (NACPA) estimates the annual sales for a drug store to be at about $ 2.5 million. The drug store operations are governed by the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS). There are about 55,000 drug stores operating in the US. [...]
[...] Though traditional pharmacists would frown upon such a system, it is emerging to be a trend in the drug store arena. The online drug stores are emerging to be the fastest growing segment of the retail pharmacy. They comprise nearly 19.1 percent of the retail pharmacy market. Their growth has benefited mostly retirees, who are unable to make use of the physical drug stores. Another advantage is that retirees have been able to avoid the usual 20 percent co-pay when claiming prescriptions under their medical insurance schemes such as Medicare and Medicaid. [...]
[...] One can skip the cost and maintenance issues that plague bricks and mortar retailers across the nation.3 Sometimes, pharmacists cannot decipher a doctor's handwriting in the prescriptions and may commit serious errors while dispensing with the drugs. Online stores solve this problem by employing electronic protocols, which read doctors' handwriting, while allowing pharmacies to bill third- party payers electronically. Digital tracking systems also need to be installed as they track illegal prescription of drugs. These systems also help combat sophisticated production laboratories that circulates sham pharmaceuticals, and drive down both price and profit margins. [...]
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