French Experiment With Drugs By Post

French pharmaceutical manufacturers could in future distribute their products by post to remote villages or isolated communes or individuals. An experiment to deliver drugs by post has been launched over a six-month per-iod in the rural regions of Alpes-de-Haute Provence, Aveyron, Correze, Cote-d'Or, Lozere and the Vosges, under an agreement signed between the French post office, the association of rural pharmacists and the regions.

Under the arrangement, patients post their prescriptions to the pharmacist of their choice in a special envelope. The pharmacist delivers the required medicines to the post office, and the postal service collects the pharmacy fee from the patient. The cost of the service is 9 French francs per prescription.

Commentators note that in the USA about 10% of prescribed drugs are delivered directly by courier, without the mediation of the pharmacy, and that this system, which is used mainly to obtain medicines for the chronically-ill, has existed since the 1970s, with considerable success.