The Value of a Trusted Wholesaler & Cole’s Act Update | TWIRx

Todd Eury (0:03)

Hey, welcome to This Week in Pharmacy. Today is August 14th, 2026 This is TWIRx.

We have a big show. Bil Schmidtknecht is coming back to TWIRx to give us an update on Coles Act out of Wisconsin. We're going to be talking to the president of Value Drug, Rick Seipp, about the changes that are happening to the markets, especially in the northeast area, the north, the west side, east side of the United States with the closing of Smith Drug. We're going to be talking about a lot of other things, especially through the news, lots going on. NACDS Total Store Expo coming up this weekend. All this and more on TWIRx.

Hey, welcome to This Week in Pharmacy. I'm here with Rick Seipp, PharmD, pharmacist, CEO of Value Drug Company. This is a special episode because we have, TWIRx has always been intended to be a news program. I want latest of what's happening. I don't know if we can get any more later than some of the changes that are happening at value and some of the opportunities that are happening at value. Talk to our listeners about the big announcement.

Rick Seipp (1:52)

Absolutely. I appreciate you having us here today. Love the partnership.

From at this point in time with Value, it's a very exciting time because unfortunately for some of the pharmacies that are out there, they're losing a wholesale partner. Smith Drug was a very important partner for many of the pharmacies that are in our area, and they'll be ceasing operations at the end of September. We'd love to get a chance to talk to them, partner with them, and be able to provide services for them, help keep them serving their patients the way that they have been for so many years.

Todd Eury (2:24)

I have personal friends. I have pharmacists and pharmacy owners I've known for years that they've used Value Drug Company.

They have personal relationships with the organization. There is something very appealing when you're treating your patients from the store's perspective, from the pharmacy's perspective, and you feel that you're being treated that same way with that same care. As we were walking into the Hilton here, we're broadcasting live from the Hilton here in Cannonsburg, Pennsylvania. You and I were talking about exactly that.

Rick Seipp (3:00)

Absolutely. And really, it's that relationship that starts with us in the pharmacy. And hopefully it allows them and frees them up and puts them in the right place of mind and just thought process to be able to just take care of their patients. That's why they went to school. That's why they went to pharmacy school, is to really just to take care of the public, be able to treat their patients and make a difference. And hopefully we make that easy for them. And that's the intention. And if they need something, they can pick up the phone. They talk to a real person.

They get to that person that helps to aid them, whether it be one of the members of our pharmacy team, like John James or Nicole Hassan, or if it's our customer service representative that is answering calls all day long. We want to make sure that we're there for them.

Todd Eury (3:47)

Let's talk about the markets. You've experienced growth in coverage throughout the United States. So which areas, which states are we concentrated in now?

Rick Seipp (3:57)

So overall values footprint really has always been Eastern Ohio, Maryland and Pennsylvania.

Really at this point, we can reach as far west overnight to Indiana, as far east as the end of Massachusetts. We go north to the Great Lakes through New York and down through Virginia. So right now our focus is in our home area and then spreading east and west. So really making sure that we can talk to more pharmacy owners in the state of Ohio, particularly West Virginia, Kentucky, and then going east. Upstate New York, Connecticut and just continuing to spread from there. And obviously we want to talk to folks, not only primary, but also secondary, and even in our home areas as well, too. That's important to us.

Todd Eury (4:40)

Rick, you know, it's one thing and I think it's the most important thing to be customer-oriented and understanding what your customer is experiencing, what their challenges are.

But then in today's world, it's 2026 We're talking about modern technologies. We're talking about warehouse technologies and delivery and logistics. It's interesting that you're delivering the most important part of this relationship out front first. But guess what? Value Drug Company has invested in multi-millions of dollars of infrastructure to be prepared for the future in order to compete with some of the bigger wholesalers. Talk to our listeners about that infrastructure.