Michał Jachowicz, Michał Kobylarz, Piotr Guzy

Advertising a medicinal product in a pharmacy run by a pharmacist

 

2024-10-24

Study subject. This article aims to analyze the legal premises of advertising medicinal products in pharmacies in the context of the statutory prohibition against such activities. This problem is particularly important for the pharmaceutical market as it protects the essential principles of economic competitiveness and equality in beginning and running a company. Running a pharmacy combines two crucial and coherent goals, i.e., public health protection and economic purposes. Considering the first of the indicated goals to be unquestionably the most important, it is impossible to ignore the significance of the economic sphere. What is more, any intervention in the economic sphere of a pharmacy as a business must also be recognized as crucial for achieving the public health goal. In this context, the question arises as to whether the advertisement prohibition established by Article 29 of the Pharmacy Profession Act can be regarded as an unjustified legislative intervention in the sphere of pharmacist-run pharmacy.

Taking the above into account, the subject of the analysis includes: (i) selected legal basis of advertising medicinal products in pharmacies; (ii) the statutory prohibition of advertising medicinal products in public; and (iii) legal basis and scope of pharmacist’s liability in case of violation of this prohibition.

Research objective. The main goal of this article is to identify certain issues in the interpretation and application of legal regulations and to formulate possible de lege ferenda conclusions.

Material and methods. The article uses a formal-dogmatic method, taking into account the directions of legal interpretation arising from (i) the jurisprudence of administrative courts and (ii) the doctrine of law.

Results and conclusions. Any manifestation of limiting the principle of freedom to conduct a business activity must be made with particular attention and with a strong reference to the rule of proportionality and the constitutional requirements conditioning such limitations. This restriction in particular should not lead to the differentiation of the economic positions of particular groups of entrepreneurs who conduct the same economic activity. Such a solution could indeed violate the principle of competitiveness and result in the arbitrary deterioration of the market position of its recipients.

Keywords: advertising medicinal products, Pharmaceutical law, pharmacy.

© Farm Pol, 2024, 80(5): 291–299