It is a small article in a large text of law, presented Wednesday in the Council of Ministers (the project of Acceleration and simplification of public action or Asap), which set fire to the powder: the possibility for several pharmacies of come together to create a website for the online sale of medicines. The unions and the council of the order of pharmacists are angry and above all worried. Europe 1 explains why.
Amazon soon on the drug market?
It is not the online sale of medicines that worries pharmacists, since it has already existed for seven years: more than 500 pharmacies in France have an online sales site of their own. What seems threatening to them is the possibility of grouping together to create a site, and that a platform like Amazon or Uber enters this drug market.
>> Find Matthieu Belliard's morning show in replay and in podcast here
On the ministry side, we can be reassured: there is no question of authorizing actors other than pharmacists to sell online. Besides, this battle is in vain, said Agnès Pannier-Runacher, secretary of state to the Minister of Economy and Finance, after the Council of Ministers on Wednesday. "Foreign platforms already produce online sales services. So Amazon, if that is their wish for development, already has a large possibility of offering this service to people who would like to connect."
No more alerts in pharmacies about dangers or side effects
Another reason for pharmacists to get upset: we have just been asked to put doliprane, ibuprofen behind the counter, so that they can each time alert to the sometimes serious side effects of these drugs. And there, it's true, online, more control possible. The drug agency is trying to appease by reminding that on each box, there are alert pictograms.