pharmacist has launched a complaint with the national Competition Bureau that alleges veterinary drugmakers and distributors are restricting the supply of pet medicine and causing higher prices for consumers.called Canada Chemists and an online store called PetsDrugMart.ca, alleges in the complaint filed last week that pharmacists are being blocked from stocking pet medicines, which they are legally allowed to dispense.
In human medicine, usually a medical professional will write a prescription for a patient to bring to a pharmacist to dispense. In animal medicine, a veterinarian is usually both the prescriber and dispenser of a drug. In Ontario, veterinarians are required to fill out just a prescription, and not dispense, if a client asks. Some veterinarians will write a prescription that can be filled at a regular pharmacy if the drug is also used for humans.
In 2015, VPCL and drug manufacturers found out about the arrangement with the veterinarians and stopped selling to them. That same year, the College of Veterinarians of Ontario, which oversees the profession, changed its regulations to bar veterinarians from supplying pharmacists with products intended for resale. Ms. Chui’s veterinarian suppliers responded by switching to Montreal-based CDMV Inc. as their distributor, instead.players then went after the professionals involved.
Jan Robinson, chief executive officer of the College of Veterinarians of Ontario, denied pharmaceutical companies had any input into the regulatory language changes in 2015. She said veterinarians should only dispense medication they are prescribing, except in some limited emergency situations.Ms. Robinson said that Ms. Chui’s issues getting supplies of pet drugs are between her and the pharmaceutical companies and distributors, and should not involve veterinarians.
In the 2020 report of the veterinary college’s disciplinary panel, witnesses from Bayer and VPCL confirmed it was their policies not to distribute products to pharmacies.