New advertising rules cause 30-40 online pharmacies to cease operations

2012-02-13



Nearly 30 online pharmacies have discontinued their websites temporarily or permanently following the coming into force of the new Reimbursement Act, Grzegorz Glowiak, an owner of e-apteki.info (and a former promotion and development manager at Domzdrowia.pl), told Rzeczpospolita. They include e.g. Apteo.pl, Zyskaj Zdrowie (a unit of Slawex), or Juventa. Others have modified their websites to comply with the new, more stringent advertising rules, with promotional offers and banners increasingly giving way to educational content.
IMS Health has similar figures. According to Marcin Gawronski of IMS Health, quoted by the newspaper, the number of online pharmacies operating in Poland has shrunk to about 140 from 180 at the end of 2011, but at least some of the 40 or so online pharmacies that have gone offline in recent weeks are likely to resume operations after adjusting their websites.
A month after the Act became law, there is still considerable chaos and uncertainty among pharmacies over what constitutes permissible advertising, a problem exacerbated by inconsistent rulings of regional Pharmaceutical Inspectorates. In the opinion of Mr. Glowiak, it will not be until September or October that it becomes clear whether the new rules have reduced the number of online drug retailers. At any rate, the sector is set to enter a period of consolidation, with fewer competitors, fewer new entrants (some 10-30 online pharmacies appeared on the market each year in recent years), higher prices and higher promotion costs. This could result on a slowing of market growth from about 15-20% a year.