Contours removed from shelves

[xMenace]

There seems to be a dispute in Canada between Shoppers Drug Mart (http://www.shoppersdrugmart.ca/english/index.html) , a large natianal pharmacy chain, and Bayer (http://www.bayer.ca/).

I was chatting with a pharmacist today at a local diabetic group's kid's halloween party, and I asked her if she had any of the new Contours yet. She responded that she didn't have any Contours anymore, only the strips. Due to the above mentioned dispute, all Bayer meters have been pulled from their shelves for the past three weeks or so. They still carry the strips.

I can find nothing on the web. It doesn't seem to have made the news. I'd like to know what other Candians across the country can find out from their local Shoppers. Have meters been pulled across the country? Can anyone dig up any more details?

I think it sucks out loud that diabetics get left out when something like this happens.

[xMenace]

I had a chat with my non-Shoppers pharmacist today. Apparently everybody in teh Canadian pharmacy world knows what's going on.

Lowdown:
- Bayer owns some huge plastics operations
- Bayer supplies Canadian automakers
- Bayer cut the automakers a deal on plastics if they would force their insurer, Greenshields, to require insurees use Bayer name-branded products and not allow generics. Keep in mind there's no protection of named brand pharmaceuticals in Canada like there is in the US.
- Shoppers got wind of the deal and put pressure on Bayer. I can only assume what this pressure consisted of, but one of the things they did was haul Bayer glucose meters off the shelves.
- Bayer has since capitulated.
- Shoppers has decided to leave the meters off the shelves for a year.

While I really admire Shopers standing up for it's customers, I think it is very wrong to leave diabetics without a product choice. It doesn't matter if it's a good or bad product, our choice has been limited, and that's bad IMO. The fact is Shopers makes nothing off of meters, so it's really no loss to their bottom line.

The investigation will now turn to the CDA!

[fgummett]

Hey John, interesting... I was in my usual Lawtons Pharmacy today (Spring Garden Road, Halifax... next to the Lord Nelson Hotel) They still had the Contour on the shelf.

[xMenace]

I fired off a light and fluffy email to CDA Advocacy.

So apparently there’s been a dispute between Bayer Canada and Shoppers Drug Mart. I’m sure you know about it. If not, ask any pharmacist. They all seem to. I realize disputes happen, and in this case it sounds like Shoppers did a pretty good thing standing up for their customers. However, their decision to keep punishing Bayer by removing all Bayer glucose meters from shelves in unacceptable. Diabetics’ choices have been affected. You can argue about the actual impacts or the quality of the meters all you want, but the fact is diabetics are caught in the middle of a fight that’s not theirs. I’d hate to see this escalate into strips or other products. Totally unacceptable! I’d also hate to see this dispute transfer to a public discussion. I’m surprised the news corps aren’t all over this already. Both of these organizations do good if not great things for diabetics.

Please let me know what you are doing to facilitate an end to this silliness.

I'm going to stop by a couple of Shoppers tomorrow and inspect their shelves.