Breaking Up the pharmacy cartel will bring lower costs and better access to medicines

“Removing outdated rules that constrain competition among pharmacies will bring consumers lower prices and better access to medicines and other pharmacy products,” says ACT Health spokesperson Todd Stephenson, welcoming moves to cut red tape around pharmacy ownership.

“It makes sense that every pharmacy should have a pharmacist on staff, dispensing prescriptions. But that hardly means the owner of the business must also be a pharmacist.

“We don’t require that every airline be owned by a pilot, or every restaurant be owned by a qualified chef. What matters is that the person doing the work is qualified – not that they happen to own the company.

“Under current law, all pharmacies must be majority-owned and ‘effectively controlled’ by pharmacists. That’s an archaic, protectionist rule. It stops investment, prevents innovation, and keeps costs high for consumers. The only people it really protects are existing pharmacy owners.

“There’s no good reason to keep these restrictions. If anything, they block exactly the sort of accessible, convenient care that patients want.

"It’s currently illegal for a GP-owned medical clinic to have an on-site pharmacy that’s owned by the GP but operated by a qualified pharmacist. It’s also illegal for a supermarket to open a pharmacy to make prescriptions more convenient for families doing their weekly shop.

"These outdated ownership rules mean fewer pharmacies, especially in smaller communities where a standalone pharmacy may not stack up fiancially – or convoluted, costly ownership structures when people try to navigate the red tape anyway.

“Even for pharmacists themselves, these rules hold people back. A young pharmacist who’s qualified and capable of dispensing medicines but can’t afford to buy or build a pharmacy is locked out of the market. The system rewards incumbents and punishes ambition.

“Pharmacists will still be responsible for meeting strict professional and licensing standards. But who signs the lease or owns the company should be irrelevant to patient safety. What these laws really do is enforce a government-backed cartel.

“ACT is focused on fixing what matters – improving access to medicines, cutting costs for patients, and freeing up New Zealand’s health sector from unnecessary bureaucracy. That means trusting professionals to do their jobs and trusting consumers to choose where they go.”