Monopoly in the pharmaceutical sector

Abstract

Almost every EU country has a form of regulation for the pharmaceutical sector, the level of which varies by country, motivated by the unique nature of medicine as a consumers good, different from any other good. In the majority of EU countries this circumstance allows the monopoly of the profession to extend to the dispensing of all medicine subject to prescription and, in many countries, also to the non-prescription ones. (See Table 1). In no case, however, is it possible to sell prescription medicine outside pharmacies through alternative distribution channels. Today, the selling of non-prescription medication is reserved to pharmacies in roughly 60% of EU countries (Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Malta, Romania, Slovakia, Spain and Sweden). In all the other countries, the selling of non-prescription medicine is allowed outside the pharmacy in authorized selling points, with or without the presence of a pharmacist.