Frequently Asked Questions
Question: This how will the opening of new pharmacies be regulated?
Reply: With the "Grow Italy" decree, the government has introduced provisions to permit the opening of new pharmacies. The purpose is to increase their number throughout the country, according to the needs of the local population and to enhance competition, particularly with regard to OTC drugs and products that are not strictly related to medical treatments. These, in short, are the measures provided by the decree:
(a) Opening new pharmacies. The population required to open a new pharmacy has been lowered to 3000. This will enable many new pharmacies to open within the next 12 months or so, but not indiscriminately. The decree lays down specific limits on population size, above which it is possible to open a new pharmac;
(b) Competition. To encourage competition, the managers of the new pharmacies are given two optional powers. The first is the freedom to offer discounts on the prices of every kind of drug. The second is the possibility to trade outside the statutory business hours;
(c) Generics. In order to reduce the cost to families, pharmacists are required to dispense a cheaper generic drug equivalent to a proprietary branded drug, unless the prescribing doctor expressly indicates on the prescription that the prescribed drug cannot be substituted, or if the customer so requires.
Recently, the Council of Ministers also approved a bill (DDL) to clarify the interpretation and application of the new provisions. Specifically:
- To prevent too many proprietors of "urban" pharmacists from putting in new tenders, this bill makes it clear that "supernumerary pharmacies” only refers to those that have been opened on the basis of the "topographic" or "distance" criterion, and not on the basis of the resident population;
- All ge limits have been abolished (previously the age limit was 40) for tendering as a partnership. This restriction made it very difficult for pharmacists to obtain a new licence because they were unable to provide documentary evidence of 20 years of activity, and they could not form partnerships;
- The 65 year age limit on pharmacy managers has been adjusted: it is abolished in the case of subsidised rural pharmacies, whose revenue is not always able to properly remunerate a pharmacy manager, and in all the other cases it has been deferred in time;
- Clarification has been issued regarding the procedures to be followed for pharmacists intending to transfer their pharmacy to other premises.
Page published on 31/01/2012
Updated on 23/05/2012
