A life applauded
June was quite a month for Sir Graeme Douglas. The pharmacist and manufacturer at the helm of Douglas Pharmaceuticals was knighted in the Queen’s Birthday honours and is still recovering from all the extra attention such an award brings.
“The word overwhelming comes to mind,” Sir Graeme says good-naturedly.
Not only did his west Auckland-based company headquarters resemble a florist shop at one point, but the 81-year-old was inundated with well-wishing emails, cards and phone calls, including some from men he hadn’t heard of since they were school chums at New Plymouth Boys’ High.
Discovering he was to be made a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to philanthropy and athletics was a “grand thrill”, but moments after the rush of excitement, the father of two sons tells Pharmacy Today he began questioning why he had been chosen.
“There are many deserving people in the community who do so much for the community in many ways,” he says.
He’s not being at all disingenuous, but it is easy to see why Sir Graeme was so awarded. The boardroom is decorated with many plaques recognising Douglas Pharmaceuticals’ contribution to various causes, including the Kumeu Huapai volunteer Fire Brigade and Cure Kids. And there are many more beneficiaries of his success. He helps because he can, and because it is needed.
“Many of our most wonderful bodies and movements; Starship, the Neurology Foundation and many others like it – our own hospice is a good example – are all grossly underfunded.”
Just a week after that eventful Queen’s Birthday, Sir Graeme was recognised once again – this time with a gold medal from the Pharmaceutical Society at its Auckland Symposium. When it was presented, the audience gave him a standing ovation – his second in as many days: he was similarly honoured as a presenter at the Pharmacy Awards the previous night.
Searching for a word to describe that experience, he settles on “awesome”, but quickly reconsiders.
“Coming from a geriatric that seems a bit inappropriate,” he says playfully. But it is clear he was moved to be honoured so highly by the industry to which he has dedicated himself for more than 60 years.
Long before four-year pharmacy degree courses, Sir Graeme began his career in 1946 as a young pharmacy apprentice. He tells Pharmacy Today today’s pharmacists are a lot more highly qualified than they were in his generation, but the older breed enjoyed a stronger relationship with customers.
“Pharmacists then were a lot closer to their patients,” Sir Graeme says, attributing this in part to the creation of the more commercially driven mall pharmacies.
“Having said that, I still consider that pharmacy is one of the unshakeable pillars of retail commerce. In every shopping mall, in every significant block of shops there’s a pharmacy, and you will find that pharmacy stays owned by the same person for much longer than any other shop in the mall.”
That said, Sir Graeme believes we now have too many pharmacies, particularly in the major cities. Some 18 have opened in the Auckland area alone in the last year. These could struggle economically, which could lead to corner cutting, he says.
Sir Graeme is also concerned about the establishment of pharmacy groups. “We’ve got one group competing against the other. I don’t think it has been to the final advantage of the pharmacy profession.”
Pharmacy groups were unheard of when he was a community pharmacist in Te Atatu South. Then, regulations dictated that each pharmacy had a qualified pharmacist who was the majority shareholder.
Regulations also stipulated that a pharmacist could only own one shop, so, in 1967, an ambitious Sir Graeme established Douglas Pharmaceuticals.
In 1980 the company began manufacturing and it was met with a current of anti-generic sentiment.
“Generics were considered to be suspect if not substandard,” Sir Graeme explains.
Coping with such resistance wasn’t easy.
“But without generics the costs of pharmaceuticals would frankly be astronomical,” he says.
Sir Graeme held strong. “With one or two exceptions, the fears and concerns of both the medical profession and in many cases the pharmaceutical profession were quite unfounded.”
He seldom finds himself defending generics these days.
But he is still very busy. Some of Sir Graeme’s colleagues wonder why he continues to work. It’s simple – he enjoys it.
“I can’t think of anything else that is going to give me as much interest.” RL
<< Back