Gold X-Weight Watchers deal
March 9, 2012
A MAJOR new pact between the Pharmacy Guild’s Gold Cross brand and Weight Watchers was announced yesterday evening at APP on the Gold Coast. Almost five years in the making, the new arrangement is set to reinforce pharmacy’s credentials as a “weight loss destination” and includes a new, exclusive, pharmacy-only range of weight management information kits. Weight Watchers MD Joseph Saad - well known to the pharmacy industry through his previous role as head of Pfizer’s local consumer healthcare products division - said there was huge opportunity to improve the health of Australians via the initiative. He said that currently about 62% of Aussies are overweight - including about 4.6 million women, and that on average Australian females make a staggering 49 diet attempts during their lives. Pharmacies are being invited to participate in the program, which will see them provide a very different offering to current ranges of meal replacements and snacking products. The move is the first time any such arrangement has operated in Australia, however a similar deal was put in place between Weight Watchers and UK pharmacy giant Boots late last year. A key motivator for the pact was the recent studies published in The Lancet and the British Medical Journal which found that the Weight Watchers program provided significantly better outcomes than GP weight loss interventions as well as other pharmacy-based weight loss programs (PD 08 Sep, 07 Nov). Guild President Kos Sclavos said that this evidence base for the Weight Watchers program would give pharmacy credibility in the sector, allowing pharmacists to confidently offer a proven solution. “We are delighted to partner with the iconic Weight Watchers brand to bring a proven and widely recognised weight management program to our patients,” he said. “Our aim is to establish pharmacy as the destination for health services and the ‘off the shelf’ membership packs will increase accessibility for a wider range of weight management support, advice and solutions,” he added. The packs come in three variants, enabling participants to follow the Weight Watchers program viaMeeting, Online or At Home. They do not contain any actual products, but a further phase could see Weight Watchers items made available for sale in pharmacy too. Saad said that the Gold Cross arrangement would enable pharmacies to recommend the Weight Watchers programs which have a “scientific rigour nobody else can give them”. Pictured above at yesterday’s launch are, from left: Pharmacy Guild National President Kos Sclavos; Joseph Saad, Weight Watchers Australasia Managing Director; and Gold Cross General Manager, Trevor Clarkin.
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