Pharmacies can sell online
The Legislative Decree n. 17 of 2014 implementing the European legislation allows the online sale of medicines without a medical prescription.
The rules laid down in Italy are very strict and aimed at ensuring the maximum protection of people’s health.
The sale concerns only medicines without a prescription and is allowed only to pharmacies and physical businesses, already in possession of the authorizations for the sale of medicines.
Therefore virtual shops that do not have authorized physical points of sale are not included.
The online sale of drugs requires observing complex but useful fulfilments, but it represents a business opportunity for pharmacies, which can make themselves visible on the web and obtain consent and attention from the growing consumer online audience.
What drugs can you sell?
Medicines can be sold without prescription, such as homeopathic medicines without prescription, and some treatments for veterinary use. The law also includes obligations on the display of the product (photography, description, etc.) and on the sale price, which must be the same as the product sold at the physical store.
You can also sell supplements, cosmetics and parapharmaceuticals.
Special requirements for natural products
The law provides special requirements for natural products, such as nutraceuticals, foods, supplements, foods with additional vitamins and minerals, products for celiacs, products without lactose.
The law provides a list of mandatory information to be published on the site, related to the composition, the rules of use and recommendations on the possible joint use with other food products.
Compliance with good distribution practices (GDP)
A chapter of the legislation is dedicated to the logistics matter, so important and indispensable in online sales.
The transportation of medicines sold online must be carried out in compliance with the guidelines on good distribution practice, currently contained in the Ministry of Health Decree of 6 July 1999, pending the transposition of the new European Guidelines of 5 November 2013.
The transport of medicines and natural products sold online must follow the following guidelines:
- For the entire transport journey the product must be accompanied by an identification document
- The medicine must not contaminate or be contaminated by other products or materials, and must not travel with other products that could compromise its integrity and its effectiveness.
- The seller must arrange, together with the transporter, emergency interventions in case of product spreading or container breakage
- The products are always kept in safe conditions, not subjected to direct heat, cold, light, humidity and hygiene, protected from micro-organisms or insects.
- The products must travel on vehicles equipped with suitable systems to guarantee a stable and controlled temperature.
- Medicinal products for which a controlled storage temperature is required, as required by the marketing authorization decrees, must be transported and stored by special and suitable means, through all points of the distribution chain.
The right logistics partner to sell online
These are some of the many obligations that the pharmacist must observe if he wants to sell his products online, and they concern in particular which products can be sold and under which conditions of storage and transport.
It is worth emphasizing that supply chain conditions are particularly stringent, but at the same time they guarantee that the products sold are delivered to the consumer in conditions of maximum integrity.
It is therefore important for pharmacists who want to take advantage of e-commerce opportunities to make use of reliable logistics partners who are able to comply with all the legal requirements.