Since the publication of a decree in 2013, the online sale of medicines has been authorized in France. But three years after this authorization, the development of the activity is struggling in France. According to the Competition Authority, out of the 22,401 pharmacies listed (as of January 1, 2015), only 301 have developed an online drug sales website. This is a rate of only 1.34%, ten times less than in Germany.
In addition, the rate of refusal of authorization to create online drug sales sites is high. Thus, in 2013, out of 259 requests, 80 refusals were opposed by the Regional Health Agencies (ARS), this is a refusal rate of nearly a third. In this context where the sector is gloomy, the authority openly criticizes the new regulatory project.
Restrictive provisions
In a notice given to the government that it made public on Tuesday, the Authority decides on two draft decrees relating to the online sale of drugs.
And the Authority simply issues an “unfavorable” opinion on these draft texts, “which take up provisions the restrictive nature of which had already been stressed by the Authority in the context of previous opinions”, she specifies.
Indeed, French sites are subject to a set of technical rules and best practices which prohibit them from a large number of commercial practices related to online sales, such as:
“Free recourse, subject to compliance with ethical rules, to the tools such as hypertext links and newsletters; subcontracting to a third party all or part of the internet sales activity; referencing in search engines or price comparators for remuneration; the valuation of their prices by posting ”.
New constraints
In addition, the Authority writes that these projects introduce “new provisions which create additional constraints disproportionate to the objective of protecting public health”. “A discriminatory regime compared to the conditions required for over-the-counter sales” and which have the effect “of removing any interest in the marketing of drugs via the Internet, both for the patient and for pharmacists,” she believes.
As an example, she indicates that the new project provides that the pharmacist may be led to request from the patient a great deal of information, some of which is covered by medical confidentiality, such as results of biological analyzes, pathological history, or the diagnosis. established by the doctor.
The other complaint against the text is that it also “invites” Internet pharmacists to write a “pharmaceutical intervention” for each order, that is to say a written, reasoned and detailed formalization of the pharmaceutical analysis. Finally, for each new order of the same drug, the pharmacist must collect any observations from the patient, the occurrence of any adverse effects and assess the benefit / risk of continuing the treatment. In short, a double weights and two measures per compared to pharmacies in hard, according to her.
The authority in favor of e-pharmacy
Faced with these texts which worries it, the Authority recalls that it is in favor of dispensing pharmacists making wide use of this new form of sale, “which makes it possible to boost, modernize and make their professional activity more visible by making benefit patients from the flexibility of online sales (longer time slots, reduced travel costs, etc.), lower prices and better information on prices ”.
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