Genco Returns

[josh6718]

Just curious, but does anyone know what Genco Pharmaceuticals does with all the outdated medications they receive each month?

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[Aznfarmerboi]

Just curious, but does anyone know what Genco Pharmaceuticals does with all the outdated medications they receive each month?

They destroy them....

 

[Lnsean]

Just curious, but does anyone know what Genco Pharmaceuticals does with all the outdated medications they receive each month?

They have a blast at the end of the day

 

[Ackj]

They destroy them....

But why do they give us credit? Seems like they would charge for that service.

 

[type b pharmD]

Just curious, but does anyone know what Genco Pharmaceuticals does with all the outdated medications they receive each month?

Some they destroy. Many they resell to charity programs or third world countries !

A drug that's been expired for a few weeks still has a good amount of value , it just can't be dispensed through usual channels in the US

 

[Aznfarmerboi]

But why do they give us credit? Seems like they would charge for that service.

To my knowledge, you do not get credit for it as in they pay you for the drugs. You might get 10 percent back as a deduction for loss, or tax credit.

You get credit as in the drug is acknowledged for and recorded... so that you don't have actual "shrinkage" in the pharmacy. For example, your inventory is 1 mil. You returned 100k... so your inventory is at 900k. You get credit because your returned 100k worth of drug, but your company takes that 100k as a loss.

Also to my knowledge, they do not re-use the drugs. WHO came out with a guideline saying that drugs should be at least usable for 6 months in order to be donated to third world countries... etc. I might be wrong though.

 

[Promethean]

Yeah, if they are repackaging expired drugs with new expiration dates for shipment to third world countries, that is pretty much illegal. But expired drugs will be rejected by foreign aid agencies, because they cannot be distributed to patients without violating WHO guidelines. Source: volunteering with an agency that collects medical supplies for use abroad.

It would be nice if expired pharms could still have some utility. Maybe some can be diverted into veterinary use? I don't know from vet med standards, but I'd bet that there might be a secondary market opportunity there.

 

[Ackj]

To my knowledge, you do not get credit for it as in they pay you for the drugs. You might get 10 percent back as a deduction for loss, or tax credit.

You get credit as in the drug is acknowledged for and recorded... so that you don't have actual "shrinkage" in the pharmacy. For example, your inventory is 1 mil. You returned 100k... so your inventory is at 900k. You get credit because your returned 100k worth of drug, but your company takes that 100k as a loss.

Also to my knowledge, they do not re-use the drugs. WHO came out with a guideline saying that drugs should be at least usable for 6 months in order to be donated to third world countries... etc. I might be wrong though.

I haven't looked at it in a while (not a manager at my current store), but I was fairly certain there is actual credit, rather than just accounting for where the drugs went. I remember logging in and reviewing the statements after the returns were processed, and it had comments for each line item. Drugs in unopened stock bottles usually received credit, opened/partial stock bottles depended on manufacturer, and drugs that were in amber vials almost never did.

 

[Promethean]

It is possible that the manufacturers give credit for unused drugs, even if they are destroyed, in much the same way that newpaper and book publishers give credit for unsold copies with proof of destruction. It may be better, in their accounting, to have to refund your store a little for expired merchandise that didn't sell than risk not selling the product because the shelves were empty when the customer turned up. Because the cost of production of many drugs is far below and totally unrelated to their retail price, giving that credit back for product that they can't then reuse may still not be such a terrible bargain. So, they refunded you $100 and didn't get $100 worth of product back to sell in some other venue... they wouldn't have anyhow. The product maybe cost $5. And the $100 they give you isn't going to go into your pocket, but will rather be turned right back into more inventory to replace the outdates. So, it is like you loaned them $100, interest-free for a while, and now they are paying it back to you, knowing that you are just going to cycle it back to them.

 

[ExpressMaiL]

They have a blast at the end of the day

Or someone is making a decent supplementary income.

 

[NateRobinson]

They dump it in the pond with the fishies

 

[Old Timer]

There are two issues if you work for a chain. The first involves inventory. You need to make sure you remove the items from the inventory in the system or you have shrink. The second is the amount of credit you get for returning the medication. Genco was set up by the manufacturers to have all of the outdates sent to one place and they are given reports. The amount of credit you get is dependent on the policy of the drug company. Abbott gives zero credit for expired drugs. Some give full credit. Some go by 1/4 of a bottle like this:

• 1-24 no credit at all
• 25-49 1/4 of a bottle
• 50-74 1/2 bottle
• 75-99 3/4 of a bottle
• 100 full bottle.

So when I was an independent if you has 24 tablets of Poly-Vi-Flor you would add an in date tablet to get to 25.