IJ will no longer accept prescription drug orders for some of its employees, as it looks to trim costs amid a shortage of prescription drugs.
The specialty pharmacy chain is looking to cut costs by eliminating some of the more expensive medications it sells, the company said in a news release.IJ said in the release it is taking a $400 million, six-year cost-cutting plan that is focused on eliminating some costly medications.
The company said it will reduce the average number of prescriptions for each IJ employee by about 1 per cent.
The reduction will be partially offset by the savings the company will create in the pharmacy by eliminating certain medications.
About 4,000 IJ employees currently use prescription drugs, which includes many who use some of these medications.
The company said the number of people who have prescriptions is expected to drop by 1,200 to about 2,400 this year.
In the coming weeks, IJ plans to begin selling some of those medications directly to its employees.
The reduction of IJ drugs could be the beginning of a wave of downsizing in the specialty pharmacy industry.
Last year, specialty pharmacy sales were down 3 per cent, while the overall industry sales were up 6 per cent during the same time period.
The decline in specialty sales is the result of higher costs, lower profit margins and the continued decline in consumer demand.
The industry’s chief executive, Paul O’Brien, has said that the specialty industry will have to continue to “make some tough decisions” as the economy improves and the economy continues to recover from the Great Recession.
In January, IJs chief executive Mark Meijer said that his company will likely cut its workforce by 1 million over the next three years, and that his goal was to have the company’s workforce in a state of “very good shape” by the end of 2019.