Relief in pharmacists. The very day of theopening of online drug sales, the Minister of Health Marisol Touraine closes the door to any possibility of selling drugs in supermarkets. “The hypothesis of a sale of drugs, even not subject to compulsory prescription, in supermarkets, is not considered by the government,” she told AFP on Friday. His ministry believes, in the columns of the Parisian, that the distribution of drugs, as it is currently organized, is “a guarantee of a good supply of the population” No need to change anything therefore.
The government rejects the proposal issued by the Competition Authority the day before. It pleaded for a liberalization of the sector in order to lower the prices of drugs sold without a prescription, too subject to the goodwill of pharmacies. For the competition authority, this measure was a boon for consumers, since it would have made it possible to resolve the price differences observed between pharmacies, by pulling prices down.
This end of inadmissibility of the Ministry of Health therefore carries over into a heated debate between large distribution and pharmacists. The latter should be reassured by this new announcement and will be able to continue to advise patients, without fear that they will buy their doliprane at the local supermarket.