On March 1, online prescription drugs will be sold in three regions of Russia

On March 1, a pilot project for the sale of prescription drugs online will start in Moscow, the Belgorod and Moscow regions. The authorities hope that it will make life easier for lonely citizens with limited mobility, but experts believe that this is unlikely. There are few pharmacies wishing to participate in it, and the list of medicines allowed for such trade is a cat cry. And this is not all the pitfalls of the new project, which “MK” learned from experts.

Online sales of over-the-counter drugs in the country were allowed back in 2020, and the pandemic then acted as a catalyst for the process. Until then, medicines could only be ordered remotely, but they still had to be received offline. But now the State Duma has adopted a law “On the Circulation of Medicines” in order to conduct an experiment on retailing prescription drugs remotely. So far, the experiment will affect only three regions of the country, but as a result, it can be extended to all the rest. The first results will be summed up in six months.

It is assumed that now couriers will be able to deliver even prescription drugs to homes. True, not all – the Ministry of Health approved a list of just over 900 international generic drug names allowed for online sales. It is clear that there are no psychotropic, narcotic and other potent drugs. In addition, it does not contain vaccines, antidepressants, abortion pills, etc. “There is a very “easy” list, mostly antibiotics, and most importantly, there is practically no way to dispense these medicines to beneficiaries, that is, it makes no sense for the elderly and people with limited mobility to order home delivery,” one pharmaceutical market expert told MK on condition of anonymity.

Authorities note that a specific mechanism for remote ordering, issue and delivery is still being developed. So there are far more questions than answers. The biggest mess is with the recipes. We declared electronic ones, but they didn’t really introduce them, and so far no one can figure out how to put paper ones into an online scheme. “Until now, this algorithm is incomprehensible, because the law states that a paper prescription can also be used. But how will it be verified? And how long will it take? Plus, where will the check be knocked out: at the patient’s door or in advance at the pharmacy? How should a patient send a prescription to a pharmacy? And how will the courier determine whether he is giving medicine to the patient or to a stranger in general? The document, by the way, obliges pharmacy organizations in such sales to ensure identification of the identity of the citizen to whom the prescription for the drug is issued with the identity of the citizen to whom the medicine will be delivered. And if the recipe is paper and bought? Recently, a huge number of people have gone with fake prescriptions. If the very scheme of such a vacation is not clear, then there is no doubt that it will be difficult for the patient. There are no social videos explaining this system,” complains our expert.

Meanwhile, the algorithm involving an electronic prescription is roughly described: issued by a doctor, it must be uploaded to the state information system; at the same time, both the pharmacist at the pharmacy and the patient himself will see the prescription in his personal account on the State Services website. True, for this, not only medical institutions, but also pharmacies that participate in the experiment must also be connected to the unified information system of the region. As Alexander Monastyrev, head of the pharmacy chain, told an industry conference, an electronic prescription was introduced in Primorsky Krai a year ago: “But it doesn’t work: doctors don’t use it, patients don’t use it. To make it work, you need mass error handling, and it is not even introduced into the series, because it is not in demand.

Now in Russia, sales of prescription drugs make up no more than 10% of all pharmacy sales, and it can be assumed that online sales of such drugs will hardly be in special demand. Especially when you consider that in order to sell prescription drugs remotely, a pharmacy must have a contract for preferential services plus a permit for remote sales of prescription drugs. The law also provides that both pharmacies and couriers must be the necessary equipment to comply with the rules for the storage and delivery of medicines (i.e. refrigerators); in addition, couriers must have portable terminals. To confirm compliance with all the requirements of the experiment, participating pharmacies need to obtain a license for this type of activity. “In short, it is expensive and difficult, and no one will do it. There are also costs for the courier, for the marking scanner. Participation of pharmacies in the experiment is voluntary. The order provides for the possibility of getting out of it, ”says our anonymous expert.

Market participants add that the mechanism for selling medicines, which is still being discussed, is also too complicated for customers (for example, Muscovites will have to use the EMIAS system to make a purchase – and only through it go to the pharmacy website). Marketplaces are also in no hurry to join the project: according to Artem Sokolov, head of the Association of Internet Commerce Companies, companies are still waiting for the regional rules for the pilot project to be finalized in order to decide on participation in it.

— We observed a similar situation when pharmacies were offered to start participating in the online sale of remote drugs, for which it was necessary to obtain permission. As a result, over three years, 503 out of 73,000 pharmacies on the market received permits for OTC distance selling,” says Victoria Presnyakova, director of the Association of Independent Pharmacies SRO and head of the Alliance of Pharmaceutical Associations. – The share of online sales of the pharmacy business has increased, but the first place in sales is far from medicines, but cosmetics, dietary supplements and medical products. We cannot yet talk about some kind of mass transition to online trading. I think that the new “pilot” will include those pharmacies that already have permission to sell OTC drugs online. In any case, the classic pharmacy will remain a classic pharmacy. The participation of pharmacies, as well as medical institutions, in the new experiment is voluntary, but you need to obtain a separate permit for such trade. In general, the system is built for electronic prescriptions (although it also leaves paper prescriptions), in addition, the list of drugs for trade is very limited – these factors may hinder the development of the experiment. Plus, pharmacies will have to conclude agreements with aggregators that will deliver medicines to people, but all responsibility for the proper quality of the drug and presentation, storage and transportation lies with the pharmacy, while marketplaces do not bear such responsibility, and there is no quality control mechanism either. So far, there are very few people wishing to take part in the experiment from our association. Pharmacies can both enter and exit. While many decided to look around and draw conclusions. An experiment for that and an experiment – we will fill bumps, change something, expand the geography, and then – the range and rules.

Published in the newspaper “Moskovsky Komsomolets” No. 28980 dated March 1, 2023

Newspaper headline:
Medicines will be closer to home