$22.9bn
$X.Xbn
13,332
1,509
$X.Xbn
Pharmaceutical wholesalers are an important link between local and international pharmaceutical manufacturers and Australia's community pharmacies. Changes to the industry's operating environment and ongoing reforms to the PBS have restrained the industry's performance in recent years. PBS price cuts have driven falling unit prices and lower per-unit profit margins, constraining the industry's main revenue stream. In response, pharmaceutical wholesalers are adopting new business models and growing non-PBS revenue streams through higher mark-ups on OTC products to cross-subsidise PBS products. Others have diversified into new markets and products, including hospital pharmacies and medical consumables.
Industry revenue has grown at a CAGR of 3.2 % over the past five years, to reach an estimated $22.9bn in 2023.
Market size is projected to grow over the next five years.
Company | Market Share (%)
2024 | Revenue ($m)
2024 |
---|---|---|
EBOS | 6,400.0 | |
Wesfarmers | 3,970.0 | |
Sigma Healthcare | 3,322.1 |
To view the market share and analysis for all 6 top companies in this industry, view purchase options.
Industry revenue is measured across several distinct product and services lines, including PBS pharmaceuticals, Other human-use medications and Veterinary pharmaceuticals. PBS pharmaceuticals is the largest segment of the Pharmaceuticals Wholesaling in Australia.
Ongoing reforms curb PBS pharmaceuticals revenue streams
Industry firms wholesale pharmaceutical products, including prescription drugs, over-the-counter medicines and complementary or alternative medicines. Pharmaceutical wholesalers also wholesale veterinary drugs and medicines. Pharmaceuticals are obtained from upstream manufacturers and distributed to hospitals, veterinarians and retail outlets like pharmacies and supermarkets.
Purchase this report to view all 6 major companies in this industry.
ANZSIC 3720 - Pharmaceuticals Wholesaling in Australia
Get an indication of the industry's health through historical, current and forward-looking trends in the performance indicators that make or break businesses.
Changes to the industry's operating environment and ongoing reforms to the PBS have restrained the industry's performance in recent years. In response, pharmaceutical wholesa...
Learn about an industry's products and services, markets and trends in international trade.
Product portfolios are changing in line with shifting operating conditions, including ongoing regulatory changes and wholesale bypass trends. Pharmaceutical wholesalers have ...
Discover where business activity is most concentrated in an industry and the factors driving these trends to find opportunities and conduct regional benchmarking.
Pharmaceutical wholesalers tend to be located on Australia's eastern seaboard. This trend reflects Australia's economic and population distribution and upstream pharmaceutica...
Get data and insights on what's driving competition in an industry and the challenges industry operators and new entrants may face, with analysis built around Porter's Five Forces framework.
Product mix influences the competitive strategies that pharmaceutical wholesalers employ. This includes the ratio of prescription products to OTC products, the proportion of ...
Learn about the performance of the top companies in the industry.
The industry comprises full-line wholesalers, short-line wholesalers, buying groups and pharmaceutical manufacturers using third-party logistics providers. Despite this, the ...
Understand the demographic, economic and regulatory factors that shape how businesses in an industry perform.
The PBS dominates the industry’s operating backdrop. Pharmaceutical wholesalers distribute approximately 5,260 PBS-listed brands, among other pharmaceutical and medicinal pro...
View average costs for industry operators and compare financial data against an industry's financial benchmarks over time.
Industry profit margins are low, although they’re often higher for more specialised short-line and veterinary pharmaceutical wholesalers. Intense competition and a strict reg...
Including values and annual change:
IBISWorld has been a leading provider of trusted industry research for over 50 years to the most successful companies worldwide. With offices in Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and China, we are proud to have local teams of analysts that conduct research, data analysis and forecasting to produce data-driven industry reports.
Our analysts start with official, verified and publicly available sources of data to build the most accurate picture of each industry. Analysts then leverage their expertise and knowledge of the local markets to synthesize trends into digestible content for IBISWorld readers. Finally, each report is reviewed by one of IBISWorld’s editors, who provide quality assurance to ensure accuracy and readability.
IBISWorld relies on human-verified data and human-written analysis to compile each standard industry report. We do not use generative AI tools to write insights, although members can choose to leverage AI-based tools within the platform to generate additional analysis formats.
Each industry report incorporates data and research from government databases, industry-specific sources, industry contacts, and our own proprietary database of statistics and analysis to provide balanced, independent and accurate insights.
Key data sources in Australia include:
Analysts also use industry specific sources to complement catch-all sources, although their perspective may focus on a particular organization or representative body, rather than a clear overview of all industry operations. However, when balanced against other perspectives, industry-specific sources provide insights into industry trends.
These sources include:
Finally, IBISWorld’s global data scientists maintain a proprietary database of macroeconomic and demand drivers, which our analysts use to help inform industry data and trends. They also maintain a database of statistics and analysis on thousands of industries, which has been built over our more than 50-year history and offers comprehensive insights into long-term trends.
IBISWorld’s analysts and data scientists use the sources above to create forecasts for our proprietary datasets and industry statistics. Depending on the dataset, they may use regression analysis, multivariate analysis, time-series analysis or exponential smoothing techniques to project future data for the industry or driver. Additionally, analysts will leverage their local knowledge of industry operating and regulatory conditions to impart their best judgment on the forecast model.
IBISWorld prides itself on being a trusted, independent source of data, with over 50 years of experience building and maintaining rich datasets and forecasting tools. We are proud to be the keystone source of industry information for thousands of companies across the world.
Learn more about our methodology and data sourcing on the Help Center.
Unlock comprehensive answers and precise data upon purchase. View purchase options.
The market size of the Pharmaceuticals Wholesaling industry in Australia is $22.9bn in 2024.
There are 1,509 businesses in the Pharmaceuticals Wholesaling industry in Australia, which has grown at a CAGR of 0.5 % between 2018 and 2023.
The market size of the Pharmaceuticals Wholesaling industry in Australia has been growing at a CAGR of 3.2 % between 2018 and 2023.
Over the next five years, the Pharmaceuticals Wholesaling industry in Australia is expected to grow.
The biggest companies operating in the Pharmaceuticals Wholesaling market in Australia are EBOS, Wesfarmers and Sigma Healthcare
PBS pharmaceuticals and Non-PBS pharmaceuticals are part of the Pharmaceuticals Wholesaling industry.
The company holding the most market share in Australia is EBOS.
The level of competition is high and increasing in the Pharmaceuticals Wholesaling industry in Australia.