Pharmaceutical distribution in Central Europe; changing legal environment

In 2011, pharmaceutical distribution was liberalized in Central Europe, with Bulgaria making the on-line sale of medicines legal in March. 2012 brought the opposite trend. The Reimbursement Act in Poland imposed a ban on advertising by pharmacies, among other regulations which made the operational environment for most distribution concerns much harder.

News of the UK launch comes as the charity Diabetes UK issued its estimates that the number of people in Britain with some form of diabetes has passed three million for the first time. The figure rose by 132,000 in the past year alone. A further 850,000 people have the disease but don't know it, the charity said.

In addition, Hungary took steps to limit the ownership of pharmacies to pharmacists only and Slovakia no longer plans to allow non-pharmacy sales, according to the latest report of PMR, a Poland-based research and consulting company, entitled Distribution in Central Europe 2012. Comparative analysis of Poland, Hungary, Romania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Bulgaria.