Anesthetic drugs have a buyer power score of 2.5 out of 5. The score reflects current negative pricing trends and indicates a moderate level of buyer bargaining power. “Prices for anesthetics have fluctuated over the past three years as a result of rising regulatory compliance costs and generics competition,” says IBISWorld procurement analyst Anna Son. The patent expiration of many blockbuster drugs has increased availability of generic anesthetics, which are typically far less expensive than their brand-name counterparts, thus helping to mitigate price growth over the past three years. Nevertheless, a limited number of suppliers of anesthetics that are in short supply, such as propofol, has kept prices high due to the constrained supply of those drugs.
The cost associated with switching anesthetics suppliers varies depending on the type of supplier. For example, buyers can expect lower switching costs associated with suppliers of commonly used anesthetics, such as ketamine, because of their instant availability and low buying lead time. “This provides buyers with the opportunity to restock their inventory in a relatively short time frame, barring contract negotiations,” says Son. In this case, buyers of anesthetic drugs have greater leverage in negotiating contracts. On the contrary, buyers are more likely to incur higher costs when they switch suppliers of anesthetics that are in short supply, especially when there are only a small number of suppliers of that particular drug. As such, suppliers of rare anesthetics have greater negotiating power over buyers. Some of the major vendors include Abbott Laborato
