The Groups of Pharmaceutical Products
The legal boundaries of telepharmacy in Georgia are defined by the Law on Medicines and Pharmaceutical Activity, and the starting point is the classification of groups. Under Article 11-2, a pharmaceutical product is divided for the purposes of advertising and retail realization into three groups: the first group comprises a product subject to special control and a medicinal means equated with it; the second group comprises a product whose improper use may cause significant harm to health or life and which is issued on prescription; the third group comprises a product which, according to the instructions, may be taken without a physician’s prescription and is issued without one.
The law prohibits assigning one and the same generic name, form and dose under different trade names to more than one group, while every product not assigned to the third group automatically belongs to the second. For a model of remote services this classification is decisive: the assortment of the service is limited precisely by those groups whose realization is permitted for the given object.
The Objects Permitted to Realize at Retail
Under Article 16, the retail realization of pharmaceutical products is carried out by an authorised pharmacy, a pharmacy — a specialised trade object — and a retail trade object, and in cases determined by legislation by personnel holding pharmaceutical education or an independent medical subject who is a natural person. The distribution by groups is likewise exact: in an authorised pharmacy products of the first, second and third groups and the preparation of officinal or magistral prescriptions are permitted; in a pharmacy — of the second and third groups; in a retail trade object — only of the third group.
In a settlement of village or town type, personnel with pharmaceutical education or an independent medical subject may realize products at retail, except those subject to special control. The prohibitions also matter: realization at a market or fair, from an open-type trade object and from a non-stationary trade place is prohibited; the sale without prescription of products of the first and second groups is prohibited; and their sale to minors is prohibited. If a telepharmacy service implies realization, its model must fit within these boundaries — otherwise it constitutes a breach of the law.