Pharmacy2U’s application to take over the ownership of LloydsDirect has been approved, the online pharmacy exclusively told C+D last week (November 28).
“We received the change of ownership approval from the NHS on November 4,” Pharmacy2U said.
“LloydsDirect is now under the ownership of Pharmacy2U Limited,” it added.
Read more: NHS Resolution blocks Pharmacy2U/LloydsDirect ownership change
“We now undertake the final stage of bringing our two businesses together and we are excited to continue to provide leading health services to even more patients as the nation’s largest online pharmacy,” it told C+D.
A pharmacy appeals committee appointed by NHS Resolution had previously refused Pharmacy2U’s application in August.
Read more: CMA merger inquiry clears Pharmacy2U purchase of LloydsDirect
It said at the time 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.
According to the August decision document, Pharmacy2U resubmitted its application “with additional information added”.
NHS North West London Integrated Care Board (ICB) last week (November 29) confirmed that “the second application was granted and [Pharmacy2U] has already taken over the premises”.
A bumpy road
Pharmacy2U purchased Lloydspharmacy’s online prescription service LloydsDirect in October last year in a deal that joined the two largest online pharmacy businesses.
The takeover was waved through by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in March and Pharmacy2U first submitted its application for a change of ownership of LloydsDirect in January, but the ICB refused the application in May.
While NHS Resolution quashed this decision in August, it nevertheless concluded that it too was “required to refuse the application”.
Read more: DPS and bricks-and-mortar pharmacies are ‘substitutable’, finds CMA
Meanwhile, the Pharmacists’ Defence Association (PDA) is preparing to support some 80 former Sainsbury’s pharmacists who only received statutory redundancy payments after Lloydspharmacy made them redundant in a four-day employment tribunal.
And Rowlands Pharmacy last month took over the running of four London hospital pharmacies from Lloydspharmacy.