PetMeds

PetMed Express, Inc.
Public
Traded as NASDAQ: PETS
Industry Retail
Founded 1996
Headquarters Pompano Beach, Florida
Products Pet medications
Website www.1800petmeds.com

PetMeds,[1] also known as 1-800-PetMeds, is an online pet pharmacy offering prescription and non-prescription pet medications and other health products for dogs, cats and horses. Its parent company, Pet Meds Express, Inc., was founded in 1996 and is a publicly traded company, listed on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol PETS.[2]

Product lines

PetMeds offers a large selection of products for dogs, cats and horses, both prescription and over-the-counter medications, health and nutritional products and animal foods, including a majority of the well-known brands of pet medications and private label products. In order to sell the prescription medication, 1800petmeds is a pharmacy licensed or authorized to conduct business in all 50 of the United States.[3] 1800petmeds sells its products primarily to retail customers, as well as its non-prescription medications to various businesses, including pet stores, groomers, and traditional retailers in the United States.

On the company website, 1800PetMeds indicates that it guarantees complete satisfaction, including honoring all manufacturers' guarantees if the company refuses to.[4]

In March 2010, 1-800-PetMeds achieved Vet-VIPPS accreditation by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP),[5] which ensures that facilities that dispense prescription drugs and devices for pets over the Internet meet the relevant licensing and regulatory requirements.

Financial information

Pet Meds is a publicly traded company, listed on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol PETS. The company was picked 4th among Forbes magazine's 200 Best Small Business Companies in 2006 and number 6 in 2007.[6][7] BusinessWeek named 1800PetMeds number 27 of its top 100 "Hot Growth Companies" in 2006.[8] On November 22, 2005, PetMed Express Inc.shares dropped more than 8 percent as the retailer faced more competition and higher operating costs.[9]

Company officers

Headquartered in Pompano Beach, Florida, 1800PetMeds is led by Robert C. Schweitzer, Chairman of the Board; Menderes Akdag, President, Chief Executive Officer and Director and Bruce S. Rosenbloom, Chief Financial Officer.[10]

Advertising

In January 2007, Petmeds.com began airing television commercials featuring actress and animal activist Betty White.[11] White who serves on the Morris Animal Foundation, a national research oriented group dedicated to improving the health of companion animals, is the author of Betty White's Pet Love – How Animals Take Care Of Us. Recent commercials with White have not been on television. Petmeds.com also maintains a blog, an informational site intended to give key questions and ideas that people can bring up to the vet so they know what questions to ask, and be able to bring up symptoms that might otherwise be overlooked.

Controversies

In 1998, the Florida Pharmacy Board received several complaints against Petmeds alleging that the company had issued medications without a prescription from a veterinarian. The complaint was settled in 1999 with the FPB requiring Petmeds to pay a small fine without admitting any wrongdoing.[12] The complaints involved the referral of prescription requests to an "alternate veterinarian," who had never had any contact with the pet (but who reviewed the pet’s medical history) after the pets' treating veterinarian declined to issue a prescription without supplying a medical reason for the refusal, thereby ignoring the judgment of a veterinarian who had a valid veterinarian-client-patient relationship in favor of someone who had never seen the pet.

In 2002, Petmeds was charged by the Florida Pharmacy Board for "operating an 'alternate veterinarian program' that contracted with veterinarians to write prescriptions for animals they had never examined".[13] PetMeds agreed to pay penalties and dismantle the program, plus serve three years of probation and community service.[14] The company reached a similar agreement in Ohio, including five years' probation.[15] In 2002, Petmeds was sued by the Texas State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners for similar issues to the Florida case.[16] The suit was settled without any admission of wrongdoing.

In 2001, Petmeds and the United States Environmental Protection Agency settled a "stop sales order" after Petmeds had sold flea control products that had been purchased outside the United States and therefore gave their dosages in metric numbers. The maker of the misbranded product, Novartis, also sued Petmeds and other pharmacies over the issue.[12][17]

In 2004, after the company went public, six securities lawsuits were brought against Petmeds by its shareholders, claiming that Petmeds had delayed disclosing past problems in order time to allow its executives, including founder Marc Puleo, to sell off their shares.[12] PetMed always maintained that the suits were without merit and in 2005, all six suits were voluntarily dismissed by the plaintiffs.[18]

References

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