Pharmacy license categories

According to the Pharmacy and Drug Act, pharmacy services (e.g., storing, compounding, dispensing, or selling of drugs) can only be provided from a licensed pharmacy with an appropriate category of licence, or an institution pharmacy. Only a pharmacist may apply for a licence and the pharmacist who holds the licence to operate a pharmacy is the licensee. A pharmacist may only be a licensee at one pharmacy at a time.

The following categories of licence may be issued to the licensee under the Pharmacy and Drug Act:

• Community pharmacy licence
  • This category of licence is required to provide pharmacy services to or for a patient for which the patient or patient’s agent attends the pharmacy to receive the service.
• Mail order pharmacy licence
  • This category of licence is required, in addition to a community pharmacy licence, when
    • the pharmacy provides pharmacy services to or for a patient for which neither the patient nor the patient’s agent regularly attends the pharmacy to receive the service, AND
    • a pharmacist does not regularly attend personally on the patient to assess the patient and monitor the patient’s response to drug therapy.
  • Regular in-person engagements between regulated members and patients are fundamental to the practice of pharmacy. Therefore, mail order pharmacy services cannot be provided on a general population basis; the provision of this type of service is limited to unique circumstances that make in-person care impractical or impossible. A licensee applicant is required to submit a mail order pharmacy services proposal form if applying for this category of pharmacy licence.
• Compounding and repackaging pharmacy licence
  • This category of licence is required to compound or repackage drugs for another licensed pharmacy or institution pharmacy that will dispense or sell the compounded or repackaged drugs to or for a patient.
    • A compounding and repackaging pharmacy must have an agreement (for community or institution pharmacies) in the form approved by council with each community pharmacy or institution pharmacy to which they provide compounding and repackaging services.
• Satellite pharmacy licence
  • This category of licence is only issued on an exceptional basis when patients require a pharmacy service that cannot be effectively provided in a community pharmacy.
    • Only the licensee of a licensed community pharmacy can be issued a satellite pharmacy licence.
    • A licensee of a community pharmacy who makes an application to operate a satellite pharmacy must provide a written rationale for the operation of a satellite pharmacy. The rationale must include the reasons why the patients who are expected to attend the satellite pharmacy require a pharmacy service that cannot be effectively provided in a community pharmacy, or reasons that make it necessary for those patients to receive a pharmacy service at a satellite pharmacy.

If you would like to open a new pharmacy, please refer to new pharmacy: letter of intent (step 1). If you are a licensee of an existing pharmacy and would like to change the category of your pharmacy licence, please refer to changing the pharmacy licence category.