Swedish pharmacy reform "could have gone further"

The privatization of part of Sweden's monopoly pharmacy outlets (Marketletter May 11) has been welcomed as a "first step" towards a  competitive market by a local health care expert, but there are concerns  that the failure to sell a greater proportion of the state-owned  Apoteket could allow it to retain a dominant position, possibly even  squeezing out private operators.

Kajsa Wilhelmsson, who is also a vice president of the health care  consultancy Health Consumer Powerhouse that produces comparative reports  on European access to treatments (Marketletters passim) and who is  launching a health policy blog (kajsawilhelmsson.blogspot.com), told the  Marketletter: "in general, the work towards deregulation has already  forced Apoteket to be more consumer friendly with longer opening hours.  It's going to be interesting to see how the market develops: there is a  serious need for consumer adaptation and modernization across Europe  when it comes to the logistics around the pharmaceuticals path from  factory to patients." She added that "Sweden could have been more  innovative here, but it's a first step and now we await the [European  Court of Justice] cases with regards to southern-middle Europe to see  what the future really holds for the pharmaceutical market."

The ECJ is expected to rule on the legality of national restrictions on  pharmacy ownership, for example in Germany and Italy, where firms can be  prevented from having non-pharmacist owners - effectively outlawing  chains stores - or where a local monopoly can be enforced (Marketletters  passim).