Are you serious?

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Anonymous

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Are you serious? How can a company like Merial not know how their product is going OTC? Summit VetPharm has a tracking system so that if anyone takes their product OTC they will know and have it pulled from the shelves. Surely a company the size of Merial can afford a similiar tracking program if they truly wanted to know. But they don't so they look the other way and pretend they don't know how it is happening.
 






But summit does not tell the vet that vectra is sold in bandfield accounts under the name First Shield Trio. I walked into a banfield without my dog and purchased some. I now carry it around with me along with a tube of Vectra. Same tube, applicator tip, color scheme, patent number. Stop being hypocrates!
 



Anonymous said:
But summit does not tell the vet that vectra is sold in bandfield accounts under the name First Shield Trio. I walked into a banfield without my dog and purchased some. I now carry it around with me along with a tube of Vectra. Same tube, applicator tip, color scheme, patent number. Stop being hypocrates!
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Since when did Banfield stop having licensed veterinarians on staff? First Shield Trio is not avail in the store...only the clinic.
 






Anonymous said:
Are you serious? How can a company like Merial not know how their product is going OTC? Summit VetPharm has a tracking system so that if anyone takes their product OTC they will know and have it pulled from the shelves. Surely a company the size of Merial can afford a similiar tracking program if they truly wanted to know. But they don't so they look the other way and pretend they don't know how it is happening.
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Its not that expensive to track the 174 cartons of Summit product that has sold.
 









face it, we got greedy. now you all have to admit what you already know and that is that 75% of the otc market is NOT through patient client relationship. we have tried to hang on to this notion as we watch our peers move up the food chain and our supervisors get kudos and bonused. we also watch our company position to sell or merge while the getting is good. think for yourselves for once. very soon you will see names showing up on this site. the fun is just beginning.
 



secure serialization can be done for pennies per box. if merial wanted to track it, they could.
It's all a PR thing - they don't want to stop diversion because they can't afford to; if they shut it off their earnings would tumble big time. they'd rather make it LOOK LIKE they are trying to stop diversion and still reap the rewards.
Vets, while heavily responsible, are only part of the problem.
 









Tracking is a joke. Three products on the market currently have "tracking" systems and two can be found everywhere that Advantage, Interceptor, Frontline, and the rest can be found. Summit tells a good story and to their credit, they can because nobody is going to go kicking and screaming to the FTC or or state attorney general if they can't get Vectra. Why? BECAUSE NOBODY WANTS VECTRA! Nobody's livlihood is going to be hurt if they can't get Vectra!

The grey market Flea and Tick business is a rich one and the people sending the faxes to vets and consolidating product for the larger retailers have lots of money and lots of lawyers. If a company like Bayer, Novartis, or Merial comes in and cuts off a diverter so that the product can't be resold, those lawyers are ready to pounce to protect their interests. There are a few examples in other industries where this has played out and there is only one outcome each and every time, the court rules that restricting the sale and resale of the products is illegal and the manufacturers must now sell to everyone and anyone who wants it. When that happens, it's game over for all of us and the products are completely devalued. No more 100% - 200% markups by vets, no more fat commissions and bonuses for pharma reps. No need (and no funding) for hundreds of industry reps when all sales will now be handled directly with 10-15 of the nation's largest retailers. Vets can simply deal with a distributor or call an 800#.

I truly believe that this is why Bayer was forced to do what they did. Both Bayer and Merial have products that EVERYONE wants because they are the most well known and frankly, they're pretty damn good. Both companies have been doing what they can to minimize the impact to vets by pumping more money and resources into the clinic even as their product was leaking out into the grey market with little that they can do about it. Their objective over the past decade has been to show vets how they can continue making more money with their products even though the products are available in some other places. It was a good balance until the selfish idiots at Summit started lying to vets telling them that there is no reason why the distribution of these products can't be illegally controlled. Bayer woke up, saw the future, and realized that we're close to this whole thing going to court and opening up. They want to beat the rest of us to the trade and establish account relationships with the retailers before the others can.

Track and trace gives vets the impression that Summit "cares" and is trying to do something. Bayer and Merial are in a tough spot because the instant that either puts a barcode on their products, the courts will shut down the whole vet exclusivity game and everyone loses. I think Vectra is betting that neither will want to be the one that causes this to happen and that under pressure, they will go officially OTC and leave Summit and a select few others to gobble up the clinic scraps. Bayer has done what Vectra predicted and they are probably wringing their hands waiting for Merial to Jump. I think they've miscalculated though, unlike Bayer, Merial is a huge veterinary company and will be even more invested with the veterinary profession after its merger. Merial can't do what Bayer did. I think their only move can be to continue helping the vets make money and growing their business and let the others try to sell inferior products while screaming BARCODE, BARCODE, BARCODE.
 






Well put.

and there will be no gen. frontline any time in the US get a clue

Anonymous said:
Tracking is a joke. Three products on the market currently have "tracking" systems and two can be found everywhere that Advantage, Interceptor, Frontline, and the rest can be found. Summit tells a good story and to their credit, they can because nobody is going to go kicking and screaming to the FTC or or state attorney general if they can't get Vectra. Why? BECAUSE NOBODY WANTS VECTRA! Nobody's livlihood is going to be hurt if they can't get Vectra!

The grey market Flea and Tick business is a rich one and the people sending the faxes to vets and consolidating product for the larger retailers have lots of money and lots of lawyers. If a company like Bayer, Novartis, or Merial comes in and cuts off a diverter so that the product can't be resold, those lawyers are ready to pounce to protect their interests. There are a few examples in other industries where this has played out and there is only one outcome each and every time, the court rules that restricting the sale and resale of the products is illegal and the manufacturers must now sell to everyone and anyone who wants it. When that happens, it's game over for all of us and the products are completely devalued. No more 100% - 200% markups by vets, no more fat commissions and bonuses for pharma reps. No need (and no funding) for hundreds of industry reps when all sales will now be handled directly with 10-15 of the nation's largest retailers. Vets can simply deal with a distributor or call an 800#.

I truly believe that this is why Bayer was forced to do what they did. Both Bayer and Merial have products that EVERYONE wants because they are the most well known and frankly, they're pretty damn good. Both companies have been doing what they can to minimize the impact to vets by pumping more money and resources into the clinic even as their product was leaking out into the grey market with little that they can do about it. Their objective over the past decade has been to show vets how they can continue making more money with their products even though the products are available in some other places. It was a good balance until the selfish idiots at Summit started lying to vets telling them that there is no reason why the distribution of these products can't be illegally controlled. Bayer woke up, saw the future, and realized that we're close to this whole thing going to court and opening up. They want to beat the rest of us to the trade and establish account relationships with the retailers before the others can.

Track and trace gives vets the impression that Summit "cares" and is trying to do something. Bayer and Merial are in a tough spot because the instant that either puts a barcode on their products, the courts will shut down the whole vet exclusivity game and everyone loses. I think Vectra is betting that neither will want to be the one that causes this to happen and that under pressure, they will go officially OTC and leave Summit and a select few others to gobble up the clinic scraps. Bayer has done what Vectra predicted and they are probably wringing their hands waiting for Merial to Jump. I think they've miscalculated though, unlike Bayer, Merial is a huge veterinary company and will be even more invested with the veterinary profession after its merger. Merial can't do what Bayer did. I think their only move can be to continue helping the vets make money and growing their business and let the others try to sell inferior products while screaming BARCODE, BARCODE, BARCODE.
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Who cares? Heartgard went off patent in 1997 and has had records sales the past 3 years. Clients want Frontline. Not some crap that claims to be "the same as frontline" or "works better than frontline" - Clients know better.

Just like with Heartgard, if vets stay with Frontline, they will do better than if they bring in some cheap brand that claims to be the sames. Biggest challenge of our jobs is working with dumbass vets who don't understand a thing about business.
 






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