Pharmacy brief - March 2013

London Pharmacy Conference

The CR Pharmacy Team's annual conference will be held on 30 April 2013 at our London office. Presentations will include:

Commissioning issues and the roles of Monitor and the Co-operation & Competition Panel Recent planning issues affecting community pharmacy including uses and GP premises A case study -when non-specialists handle a transaction - "Hypromellose lawyers": will it all end in tears? Regulatory update - including new market entry, the Francis Report, self-selection of P meds and the BBC's Inside Out programme The conference is free, subject to availability. To reserve a place, contact events@charlesrussell.co.uk.

Wholesale FAQs

A paragraph on wholesale dealing in the last issue of the Pharmacy Brief prompted several questions. Here are some examples:

Q Is it right that a pharmacy owner with a wholesale dealer's licence may buy medicines from another pharmacy owner only if the seller has a wholesale dealer's licence?

A Yes.

Q Can the holder of a WDL buy medicines from dispensing doctors?

A A licensed wholesaler cannot buy from a dispensing doctor unless that doctor has a wholesale dealer's licence. Moreover, dispensing doctors may not sell medicines by wholesale unless they have a wholesale dealer's licence

Q I have one pharmacy (A) with a WDL and one (B) without (due to space restrictions). I am aware that my MHRA licensed pharmacy (A) may only purchase stock from a WDL holder or manufacturer. However, I can find no guidance on whether it is legal or not to purchase stock at my unlicensed pharmacy (B) and transfer it (intercompany) to the licensed one (A) from where it is wholesaled to customers.

A The judge made it clear in the recent Blackbay Ventures case that the law governing wholesale dealing does not prevent a business transferring stock between its pharmacy and wholesale sides. However, since you have a WDL, you must still observe the requirements imposed on licence holders regarding handling, storage and transportation.

Not Guilty Verdict

We have recently acted for a client accused of fraud. It was alleged that he made a representation to a patient about the government putting medicine prices up in order to get more money for over -the- counter medicines. Our client denied the allegation and at the Crown Court we were able to show that there was no evidence that he had made that representation. The jury returned a verdict of not guilty and our client was awarded his legal costs.

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