The premises of Philippe Lailler, 1st online pharmacist, are deemed non-compliant by the courts, because his drugs sold on the Internet are stored elsewhere than in his pharmacy.
Philippe Lailler, the first French pharmacist to sell drugs on the Internet, is once again in legal turmoil. The premises where it stores its products sold online since 2012 have just been deemed “non-compliant” by the Administrative Court of Appeal of Nantes (Loire-Atlantique). The reason, they are found elsewhere than in his dispensary.
The Court thus annulled on January 10 a decision of the Administrative Tribunal (TA) of Caen of April 14, 2015 considering these premises in order. The TA itself canceled a formal notice from the Normandy Regional Health Agency (ARS) issued in 2014 asking the pharmacist to “regularize the situation of his pharmacy within nine months on pain of financial sanction”.
A local 3.6 km from the Caen dispensary
To summarize, the Nantes magistrates have therefore ruled in favor of the ARS and the Ministry of Health who do not accept that “the storage of drugs” and “the preparation of orders” take place in an “annex” room located in Fleury -on-Orne (Calvados), ie “3.6 km from the dispensary” of Philippe Lailler located in Caen (Calvados).
As a reminder, the Public Health Code only authorizes the electronic commerce of drugs that can be delivered without a prescription on the condition that “the premises of the dispensary form a single unit”. This rule aims to “guarantee the quality and safety of the drug circuit by the compulsory presence of a pharmacist”, recalled the Nantes court.
An appeal to the Council of State in preparation
The court has, moreover, rejected the argument according to which “the importance of the activity and the means necessary for the operation of the site of sale on line of Mr. Lailler makes essential the use of industrial premises”. She finally considered that “it does not emerge from the file that the fact of having to store medicines sold online in the dispensary would be likely to hinder the trade of medicines within the European Union” as stated by the Deputy Mayor Modem of Caen
“The latter nevertheless continues for the time being all his activities,” said his lawyer contacted by Why actor. Me Virginie Apéry-Chauvin believes that the nine-month period given by the formal notice for compliance had not expired because of the procedure. And the latter to conclude that “there is a real debate on this question and Mr. Lailler will be to appeal to the Council State so that it can be decided definitively ”. His site ” pharma-gdd.com » delivers around 100,000 packages per year.
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