Stores still waiting

Sales of OTC medicines outside pharmacies are not expected to exceed HUF 12-13 billion, which is a tiny fraction of the HUF 500 billion total sales in the retail trade of medicine. International chains and petrol station chains are standing by in January, waiting to see which products should be listed from among the almost 300 licensed. Preconditions for selling medicine are strict, while a lot of investment is required. The list of OTC medicines contains products which cannot be hazardous for patients and quantities are limited for even these. No rush for trading licenses has been reported by regional ÁNTSZ offices yet. Most of the applicants have been chemists’ stores and other health-related businesses so far. Though medicine is to be kept in closed cabinets, it is unlikely that petrol stations will employ highly qualified staff for selling medicine. “Health islands” operating in large stores will probably have one or two employees with a college or university degree. The requirement to check out the OGYI web-site twice every day might be a problem for the petrol stations without Internet. Most of the retail chains want the wholesalers to provide the professional background and infrastructure for selling medicine, which might amount to several hundred thousand HUF per store. This is only feasible for wholesalers supplying retail partners on the basis of long term agreements.