Sunday Tribune (Ireland), July 16, 2008
British pill site
bars Irish residents
A controversial British based website offering women both the contraceptive pill and the 'morning after' pill online without the need to visit a doctor has temporarily ceased filling prescriptions for patients with addresses in the Republic of Ireland.
This follows an intervention by the Irish Medicines Board (IMB), the Sunday Tribune has learned. However, it has since emerged that the board, which is responsible for the regulation of medicines in the state, could be powerless to stop the sale of these products due to EU rules.
Both sides met in London last week to discuss the IMB's concerns about the products being offered by the medical website, Drthom.com. It decided to stop offering the service to Irish-based clients from the middle of last week.
The Sunday Tribune understands that, during the two weeks or so when the website was offering the oral contraceptive pill, around 100 Irish women had their prescriptions filled in this way.
"The Irish Medicines Board has outlined to the company, Dr Thom, the provisions within Irish legislation that make it an offence to supply a prescription-only medicinal product by mail order," a spokeswoman for the IMB said.
"Drthom.com has agreed not to supply the Irish market and will not do so pending its obtaining legal advice on the matter.... The IMB is confident that Drthom.com will comply with the law."
According to the IMB, Irish legislation prohibits the mail order of prescription-only medicinal products.
The spokeswoman said there was no issue as to whether EU or Irish law prevails in relation to the sale of the products, and said Irish case law was "not inconsistent" with EU laws.
She cited a precedent which she said established that where a member state has a law prohibiting the mail order of prescription-only medicinal products, that law is not contrary to EU laws.
However, a spokesman for Dr Thom, the trading name of Expert Health Ltd, said its understanding of EU law is that goods and services can be freely offered within member countries. He said the company sought legal advice on this issue before launching the service, and hopes to have further clarification from its own legal counsel in the coming weeks.
The company had been "intrigued and surprised" at the level of demand for the site's services from women in Ireland. "The reality is that if the legal advice is that the IMB is correct, then we will stop. Then it will take a change in the law in Ireland to make mail order (prescriptions) acceptable," he said. "We believe that we're offering a good service to the women of Ireland... the reality is that we aren't sure who is right."
The service requires women to fill out a health questionnaire before getting a prescription. One of the site's doctors may then ask them follow-up questions. It puts a strong onus on patients to disclose accurately and honestly their medical history and personal details, including age.