The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 278 No 7456 p698
16 June 2007

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Pharmacy takeover prompts competition concerns

Lloydspharmacy will have to sell four pharmacies as a result of its planned acquisition of Independent Pharmacy Care Centres Plc — a 34-pharmacy company (PJ, 5 May, p514). If Lloydspharmacy fails to provide satisfactory undertakings to sell the pharmacies, then the Office of Fair Trading will refer the acquisition to the Competition Commission.

The OFT announced last week that there were four localities in which the acquisition would reduce consumer choice from three pharmacy companies to two companies within a mile of each other. It took the opportunity provided by this case to repeat its view that the Government should reconsider pharmacy contract restrictions.

OFT chief executive John Fingleton said: “This is a market in which Government regulations restrict competition by imposing barriers to new market entrants. … There remains a strong case for the Government to reconsider the costs to consumers of maintaining these disproportionate restrictions on competition in the retail pharmacy sector.”