Lloyds fights rules on display of medication

The company operating Lloyds pharmacies here has brought a legal challenge to new regulations governing the display of non-prescription medicines which may only be sold in pharmacies.

Lloyds Pharmacy Ireland Ltd, which owns and operates 90 retail pharmacies in the State, claims the regulations, which require such medicines to be stored in a part of the premises to which the public does not have access, breach its property rights, and will cost it at least €1m a year.

It claims the regulations amount to an unlawful prohibition, or substantial limitation, on the visual display of non-prescription, pharmacy-only medicines — known as P-meds. These include painkillers such as Panadol or Disprin and their generic equivalents and vitamin products like Pharmaton and Clonfolic.