In the evolving EU healthcare landscape, online access to prescription medicines is rising. The EU legislation provides a legal framework for safe online access, aligning supply rules with physical pharmacies and providing specific measures against counterfeiting. Despite this alignment, access to online channels remains uneven across EU Member States, with only eight offering comprehen-sive online services for consumers to access prescription medicines.
Our research, commissioned by the Alliance for Safe Online Pharmacy in the EU, compares the ex-periences of EU citizens in countries where online access to prescription medicines is permitted (Sweden and Germany) to countries where it is prohibited (France, Italy and Spain). We have de-ployed multiple research methods, including a novel survey of 5,000 consumers across Europe, as well as interviews and questionnaires capturing detailed views of chronic patients, pharmacy own-ers and patient organisations. We find evidence documenting the following:
While almost one-third of respondents (31%) in the countries that currently prohibit online access to prescription medicines would likely obtain prescription medicine online if available, a total of 56% of respondents in one of the surveyed countries with full online access have already used online access to obtain prescription medicines. This suggests a significant potential for online access to prescription medicines to satisfy patients’ needs. This potential grows alongside awareness of the safety of online access and actual experience demonstrates the tangible benefits.
We find that patients across the board value the time-saving convenience and en-hanced flexibility offered by online access to prescription medicines through registered pharmacies. We estimate the convenience benefits of time savings, unlocked by an EU-wide lifting of restrictions on online access to prescription medicines, to range from up to EUR 1.3bn in the short run immedi-ately after the removal of restrictions, to up to EUR 2.3bn in the long run as the market matures.
Our analysis reveals that respondents who are chronically ill find that the three major contributors to their non-adherence in the past are medicine not in stock, forgetting their refill, and time constraints. 57% of respondents who used online dispensing believe that online access helps improve their adherence.
In light of these findings, we propose the following policy recommendations: