Value Drugs considered several options in what discount pharmaceutical products to produce for it’s product mix.  The company has been limited in it’s choices only by the machines available and the number of people the company will have available to run it’s operations.  

It  was decided to limit it’s product mix, at first, to two liquid stomach-relief medicine and cough syrup.  These two products are believed to be those with the highest profit margin within the pharmaceuticals industry, based on research Joe Formulary has performed.  As well, the liquid form of these two products make them suited to the same mixing and production equipment. They are also relatively easy to produce with a limited staff.  Finally, the market for these two products appears to be growing at a faster rate than the market for off-the-shelf pharmaceutical products, in general.

While these two products fill important medical needs, they do not compete against each other since they are designed to remedy illnesses related to different areas of the body, the stomach and throat.  The illnesses associated with the stomach and throat take on different seasonal patterns.  Market research shows that cough syrup sales are skewed toward the winter months when throat symptoms due to colds and flu are much more prevalent.  By contrast, stomach-relief sales, while more consistent, are skewed slightly toward the summer months when indigestion tends to be more common (possibly from the greater number of picnics and barbecues).

Since most pharmaceutical products can be easily copied, the company will have the potential to expand it’s business by moving into other related product lines.  Similarly, Value Drugs will have the capability to use it’s manufacturing equipment and laboratories in a flexible manner, adapting it’s production schedules accordingly.