Latest: NHS Resolution blocks Pharmacy2U/LloydsDirect ownership change
An NHS Resolution pharmacy appeals committee has found it is “required to refuse” Pharmacy2U’s application to take over the ownership of LloydsDirect’s west London depot.
A pharmacy appeals committee appointed by NHS Resolution has refused Pharmacy2U’s application to take over the ownership of LloydsDirect, according to a decision published by the health authority on August 22.
Among other findings, the NHS Resolution committee determined that Pharmacy2U’s procedures “were not likely to secure the safe and effective provision” of more than ten essential services, including the dispensing of drugs and appliances and urgent supply.
Pharmacy2U was appealing North West London integrated care board’s decision (acting as the commissioner of pharmacy services) to refuse its change of ownership application, submitted so that it could take over the running of LloydsDirect.
Read more: DSPs and bricks-and-mortar pharmacies are ‘substitutable’, finds CMA
Pharmacy2U had submitted its application for a change of ownership over LloydsDirect’s Perivale centre in January. In May, the commissioner refused the application, according to the decision papers.
While NHS Resolution quashed the decision of the commissioner on the grounds that they did not consider particular regulations in coming to their decision to refuse the application, nevertheless, it too concluded that was “required to refuse the application”.
According to the decision document, Pharmacy2U has resubmitted its application “with additional information added”, which is “currently being processed”.
Read more: CMA merger inquiry clears Pharmacy2U purchase of LloydsDirect
Pharmacy2U is listed as the significant controlling interest of LloydsDirect on Companies House, and had its takeover of LloydsDirect waved through by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in March.
In its reasoning, published in April, the CMA determined that distance-selling pharmacies (DSPs) and bricks-and-mortar pharmacies are “substitutable” and that high street pharmacies are “a suitable alternative to DSPs”.
In October 2023, Pharmacy2U snapped up Lloydspharmacy’s online prescription service LloydsDirect in a deal that joined the UK’s two largest online pharmacy businesses.
