DocMorris

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DocMorris NV

logo
legal form Naamloze Vennootschap
founding 2000
Seat Heerlen , NetherlandsNetherlandsNetherlands 
management Olaf Heinrich (Chairman), Christian Franken, Max Müller, Michael Veigel
Number of employees around 600
sales 370 million euros
Branch Pharmacy, pharmacies, pharmaceutical services
Website www.docmorris.de
As of December 31, 2017

DocMorris (formerly 0800DocMorris ) is a Dutch mail-order pharmacy that delivers pharmaceuticals primarily to customers in Germany after placing an order by telephone, post or the Internet . The company was founded in 2000 by the Dutch pharmacist Jacques Waterval and the German Ralf Däinghaus and has been part of the Swiss Zur Rose Group since 2012 .

Seat

DocMorris has been based in the Netherlands since it was founded. The company has been located in Heerlen not far from the German border since 2004 , around 15 km from Aachen . The reason for the choice of the seat abroad was the circumvention of up to 2003 are valid in Germany ban the mail-trade and the elimination of the ruling in Germany fixed prices on prescription drugs .

In 2015 DocMorris opened its new logistics and administration center in the European Business Park Avantis on around 16,000 m² .

Company facts

DocMorris is a stock corporation . The board of directors includes Olaf Heinrich, Michael Veigel and Max Müller. The pharmacist responsible is Christian Franken (as of March 2020). Around 600 employees work for the company in the Netherlands and Germany, including - according to DocMorris - 90 trained pharmacists and “highly qualified pharmaceutical staff”.

On April 26, 2007, Celesio AG , one of the leading international service companies in the pharmaceutical and health care markets, took over around 90 percent of the shares in DocMorris. The founders left the company in 2004 (Jacques Waterval) and 2009 (Ralf Däinghaus). DocMorris was thus temporarily a 100 percent subsidiary of Celesio AG. After the takeover, DocMorris was present in Europe in addition to the mail order pharmacy with on-site pharmacies in Germany, Ireland, Sweden and Italy. The pharmacies outside Germany, however, belonged to Celesio and were given the brand name DocMorris after the takeover.

Celesio sold DocMorris to Zur Rose AG in 2012 . The pharmacies in Ireland, Sweden and Italy were allowed to continue to use the brand name for a transitional period.

On February 12, 2013, DocMorris took over the share of K-Mail Order (formerly Klingel ) in the Wellsana pharmacy , which was founded in 2010 as a joint venture between DocMorris and K-Mail Order.

On June 12, 2013 DocMorris announced that it would be the new main and shirt sponsor of Alemannia Aachen .

In 2017 DocMorris took over the wholesale division of the Bremen- based provider Eurapon .

In May 2018, the takeover of the Hamburg- based mail order pharmacy apo-rot by DocMorris became known.

In October 2018, DocMorris took over the medpex mail order pharmacy from Ludwigshafen am Rhein .

The CEO of the parent company Zur Rose AG , Walter Oberhänsli, does not position DocMorris as an online pharmacy, but as a digital health service provider from which stationary pharmacists can order and pharmaceutical companies and health insurance companies can offer innovative services.

Customers

Although the company is based in the Netherlands, the company mainly serves the German market. According to the company, DocMorris supplied its one millionth customer in December 2007. In 2014 DocMorris had over 2.5 million customers. There is no alternative to a written order for prescription drugs, as the prescription must be presented to the sender. At times DocMorris attracted additional customers by halving the additional payment levied in Germany for prescriptions. This was reintroduced from 2019.

history

initial situation

The offering and advertising of prescription drugs on the Internet was forbidden under the German Medicines Advertising Act and the dispatch of medicines was prohibited under the German Medicines Act . DocMorris relied on the guaranteed economic freedom of movement on the European single market in order to conduct its business activities in the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany. The mail-order company deliberately came into conflict with the law, regulatory authorities and German pharmacists.

With the planned opening of DocMorris pharmacies, which should be operated by the corporation of the same name, and with the opening of the first pharmacy in Saarland, DocMorris once again challenged the German pharmacists who now saw the ban on third-party ownership of pharmacies endangered.

For these reasons, the business model and business practice were repeatedly the subject of court hearings and ultimately also led to changes in German pharmacy and pharmaceutical law.

Legal proceedings for the dispatch of pharmaceuticals to Germany (2003)

The dispatch of pharmaceuticals from the Netherlands to German customers was the subject of several court hearings, as the dispatch of pharmacy and prescription-only pharmaceuticals was prohibited under German law. The European Court of Justice ruled in December 2003 that the cross-border shipping of pharmaceuticals can be viewed as in principle compatible with European law . At the same time, however, the court recognized the ban on the dispatch of prescription drugs that existed in Germany at the time (I. DocMorris judgment of the ECJ). This confirmed the German legal situation, according to which the core business, the dispatch of prescription drugs, was illegal. However, this judgment had little practical relevance for the mail order company, as an amendment to the German Medicines Act to permit the dispatch of medicinal products on January 1, 2004 had already been decided. With its judgment of July 21, 2006, the Frankfurt am Main Regional Court finally declared the dispatch of prescription drugs from other European countries to be permissible (AZ: 3-11 O 64/01).

Opening of a branch pharmacy in Germany (2006)

DocMorris pharmacy in Saarbrücken, under the arcades of Kaiserstraße in 2007

In order to further expand the business in Germany, the company opened a branch in Saarbrücken on July 3, 2006 . The granting of the operating license by the Saarland Ministry of Health was surprising, since according to the German Pharmacy Act only pharmacists as an individual ( registered merchant ) or in a non-limited partnership ( open trading company ), but not a stock corporation, are entitled to open and operate a pharmacy ( ban on third-party ownership ). The Minister of Health Josef Hecken justified the approval, however, with the fact that the restriction in German pharmacy law was not compatible with higher-ranking European law.

A resident German pharmacist, a chamber of pharmacists and a pharmacists' association have now brought a joint action against the operating license issued by the Saarland Ministry of Health. The lawsuit alleged that the approval violated the ban on multiple and third-party ownership for pharmacies in force in Germany; Health Minister Josef Hecken was accused of perversion of the law. The Saarbrücken regional court decided that this urgent application did not need to be hurried and therefore rejected it. The action against the operating license remains unaffected.

On September 13, 2006, the Saarland Administrative Court in Saarlouis granted three Saarbrücken pharmacists temporary legal protection and ordered the DocMorris branch to be closed: the operating license violated equal opportunities in professional competition. On January 22, 2007, the Higher Administrative Court in Saarlouis overturned the administrative court's decision so that the branch pharmacy could continue to operate. In contrast to the administrative court, the higher administrative court assessed the freedom of establishment for corporations within the European Union in its reasoning above German law. To clarify the conformity of German law with European law, the administrative court appealed to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) as part of a preliminary ruling procedure . With the ruling of May 19, 2009, the ECJ established that the German regulations in the Pharmacies Act are compatible with European law (II. DocMorris ruling of the ECJ). The DocMorris pharmacy in Saarbrücken remained open as the company wanted to wait for the final decision of the Saarland administrative court. After all, DocMorris had to close its branch pharmacy in Saarbrücken immediately. With reference to the above-mentioned judgment of the ECJ, the Saarland Ministry of Health revoked the operating license for the pharmacy with immediate effect. DocMorris filed a lawsuit against this decision before the administrative court of the Saarland. The branch was reopened on July 27, 2009, this time as a franchise pharmacy, i. H. the previously employed pharmacist is working as a freelance pharmacist again, but has entered into a brand partnership with DocMorris.

Franchise pharmacies

Former DocMorris pharmacy in Flensburg in 2013

On January 8, 2007, the company in St. Wendel in Saarland also converted an existing pharmacy - still run independently by a German owner - into a franchise branch that carries the DocMorris logo for a license fee. A second franchise pharmacy opened shortly afterwards in Flensburg . By 2011, over 160 pharmacies in Germany had signed a license agreement with DocMorris. The company's goal was to win 500 pharmacies for the franchise concept.

Thanks to the franchise agreement, the brand partner pharmacies remained independent companies. However, you may use the DocMorris brand and marketing support for a license fee.

The brand partnership ended with the sale of DocMorris to the Zur Rose Group in 2012/13 . Existing franchise agreements continue to run until the end of the respective contract. The aforementioned franchise pharmacy in Flensburg no longer bears the name DocMorris since around 2015.

Dispensing machines

In April 2017 DocMorris set up a digital advice service with a pick-up function for drugs in Hüffenhardt, Baden-Württemberg . The reason for this was that the only pharmacy in town had closed about a year earlier; the search for a successor was unsuccessful. Medicines could now be obtained via a vending machine regardless of opening times. There was also a screen on the premises, which could be used to video chat a pharmacist from the headquarters in Heerlen, the Netherlands, if required . After only two days, the Karlsruhe Regional Council closed the video pharmacy until the legal situation was finally clarified.

The Regional Court (LG) Mosbach has now banned the Dutch company DocMorris from selling drugs via vending machines following a lawsuit by the Baden-Württemberg State Pharmacists Association and a lawsuit between three pharmacists from the region and a mail-order pharmacist from Cologne. (Judgment of February 15, 2018, Ref. 4 O 37/17, 4 O 39/17, 3 O 9/17, 3 O 10/17 and 3 O 11/17). The business model of DocMorris violates the Medicines Act (AMG) and is also anti-competitive, judged the LG. The judgment is not yet final, both parties could appeal against it.

The complaint by DocMorris against the prohibition order of the regional council before the administrative court in Karlsruhe was dismissed and the official prohibition on placing pharmacy-only drugs on the market using a vending machine was confirmed. Here, too, violations of the Medicines Act and the Pharmacy Operating Regulations (ApBetrO) were found.

Web links

Commons : DocMorris  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c THE APOTHEKE DOCMORRIS AT A GLANCE In: docmorris.de, October 30, 2018, accessed on October 30, 2018.
  2. ↑ DocMorris builds on the cross-border Avantis industrial park . In: Aachener Zeitung , October 8, 2014.
  3. ↑ a b Mail-order pharmacies - facts and figures ( Memento from February 26, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ Celesio buys Doc Morris werk = FAZ internet pharmacy. April 26, 2007, accessed March 8, 2013 .
  5. ^ A b Benjamin Rohrer: DocMorris disappears from Italy, Sweden and Ireland. In: Apotheke adhoc. October 26, 2012, accessed October 23, 2018 .
  6. ↑ Mail order pharmacy: Swiss buy DocMorris . In: Spiegel Online . October 25, 2012.
  7. ^ Pharmacy Adhoc: DocMorris takes over Wellsana pharmacy . In: APOTHEKE ADHOC . ( apotheke-adhoc.de [accessed on October 23, 2018]).
  8. ↑ Mail order pharmacies: DocMorris swallows Eurapon report on the Internet portal Apotheke Adhoc from October 17, 2017, accessed on October 6, 2018.
  9. ↑ Mail order pharmacies: Apo-Rot: Mail order business goes to DocMorris Report on the Internet portal Apotheke Adhoc from May 24, 2018, accessed on October 6, 2018
  10. ↑ Online pharmacy medpex joins forces with market leader DocMorris for further growth in Europe. Retrieved October 18, 2018 .
  11. ↑ Eva Müller: Survival pill . In: manager magazin . March 2019. Hamburg February 27, 2019, p. 84-87 .
  12. ↑ How do you write a success story? . DocMorris NV
  13. ↑ ECJ judgment December 11, 2003 C-322/01 .
  14. ↑ Prescriptions allowed in internet pharmacies . Spiegel Online, July 25, 2006.
  15. ^ A stage win for DocMorris. In: Manager Magazin. August 9, 2006, accessed July 25, 2018 .
  16. ^ OVG cancels closure , Pharmazeutische Zeitung , January 23, 2007.
  17. ↑ tagesschau.de : Judgment of the ECJ on the German Pharmacy Act: EU judges strengthen pharmacists in dispute with Doc Morris ( memento of May 22, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) , May 19, 2009.
  18. ↑ DocMorris: Third-party ownership of pharmacies: Decision rests with the respective EU member state  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.docmorris.de   , Press release from May 19, 2009.
  19. ↑ According to the ECJ ruling: DocMorris has to close the German branch pharmacy. In: Spiegel online. May 22, 2009, accessed March 8, 2013 .
  20. ↑ FTD.de: DocMorris sues against pharmacy closure ( memento from September 4, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) , accessed on May 30, 2009.
  21. ^ Saarbrücker Doc-Morris-Apotheke reopened , Saarbrücker Zeitung , July 24th, 2009.
  22. ↑ a b DocMorris pharmacy franchise only in double digits
  23. ↑ Nadine Slaby: In Hüffenhardt via video chat for the right medication. RNZ , March 30, 2016, accessed April 21, 2017.
  24. ↑ Stephanie Kern: DocMoriss-Filiale Hüffenhardt: How a "village pharmacy" causes a sensation nationwide. RNZ, February 10, 2017, accessed April 21, 2017.
  25. ↑ Stephanie Kern: DocMorris opens his video pharmacy. RNZ, April 21, 2017, accessed April 21, 2017.
  26. ↑ Susanne Preuss: DocMorris has to close the video pharmacy FAZ , April 21, 2017, accessed on the same day.
  27. ↑ Leridez Tanja: Press release of the VG Karlsruhe from April 5th, 2019 . April 5, 2019, accessed May 13, 2019 .
  28. ↑ Leridez Tanja: Press release of the VG Karlsruhe from April 25, 2019. April 25, 2019, accessed on May 13, 2019 .
  29. ↑ Judgment of the 3rd Chamber of April 4, 2019 - 3 K 5393/17 -. Retrieved May 13, 2019 .