This article is a list of major pharmacies (also known as chemists and drugstores) by country.
Afghanistan
786 Pharmacies is the first and largest pharmacy chain in the country.
Australia
Pharmacies in Australia are mostly independently owned by pharmacists, often operated as franchises of retail brands offered by the three major pharmaceutical wholesalers in Australia: Australian Pharmaceutical Industries (API), Sigma Pharmaceuticals, and Symbion Health. A minority of pharmacies are owned by friendly societies, particularly in Victoria and South Australia. Chemist Warehouse is a major disruptor and is a low frills store similar to Aldi in the grocery/supermarket sector.
API brands
- Pharmacist Advice
- Priceline Pharmacies
- Soul Pattinson â€" formerly owned by Washington H. Soul Pattinson & Co. Ltd
Sigma brands
- Amcal â€" formerly the Allied Master Chemists of Australia Limited
- Discount Drug Stores
- Guardian Pharmacies
- PharmaSave
Symbion brands
- Chemmart Pharmacy
- Terry White Chemists
Chains
- Pharmacy 4 Less
- Chemistworks
- National Pharmacies South Australia
- Quality Pharmacy Group
- SmarterPharm Group
- Cincotta Discount Chemist
Brazil
These are the biggest drugstore companies in Brazil by revenue:
- UltraFarma
- Brasil Pharma
- Drogarias DPSP
- Pague Menos
- Profarma
- RaiaDrogasil
Canada
- Brunet
- Costco
- DRUGStore Pharmacy
- Familiprix
- Jean Coutu
- Katz Group of Companies
- Lawtons
- London Drugs
- PharmaChoice
- Pharmaprix
- Pharmasave
- Proxim (merger of Essaim and Santé Services)
- Rexall
- Shoppers Drug Mart/Pharmaprix
- Uniprix
- Value Drug Mart
- Walmart
Defunct chains
China
The key players in the drugstore industry in China are:
- China Nepstar, Shenzhen-based â€" China's largest
- Super-Pharm, Israeli company, has about 65 stores in China as of 2007
- Watsons, owned by HK-based Hutchison Whampoa
Croatia
The main pharmacies in Croatia are:
- Farmacia - biggest chain
- Gradske ljekarne Zagreb
- Ljekarne Coner - first private pharmacy
Denmark
In Denmark, all pharmacies are owned by the Association of Danish Pharmacies and controlled by the state. There are two pharmaceutically trained groups with a higher education in the Danish pharmacies: pharmaconomists (Danish: 'farmakonomer') and pharmacists (farmaceuter). There are also pharmacy technicians (defektricer) who have a vocational training and unskilled laborers/workers (servicemedarbejdere) who perform manual labour.
Egypt
The main pharmacy chains in Egypt:
- Cleopatra Pharmacies
- Elezabi Pharmacies
- Seif pharmacies
- Roshdy pharmacies
- Hagar Pharamcies 19747
Germany
Germany is the biggest pharmacy market in Europe with €35 billion, or $46 billion, of revenue each year. In Germany, pharmacies are known as "Apotheken". Like France, they are all independently-owned by pharmacists, and like France, there are no pharmacy chains. In hindsight to consumer protection, German law bans chains of Apotheken, but generally allows self-employed pharmacists to individually operate a maximum of four outlets, all of which must be in close proximity.
Other types of retailing are strongly opposed to offering the same types of services as an Apotheke. These retailers would not have the necessary expertise to provide proper patient care and this has been upheld by the European Court of Justice in its ruling of May 2009. Traditionally in Germany, drugs were not discountable and the entire trade with pharmaceuticals was limited to the single channel of the Apotheke. In 2004 however, the health care reform law GMG (de:GKV-Modernisierungsgesetz) allowed free pricing of OTC products. This led to a significant decrease of OTC prices in competitive areas. Internet and mail-order purchasing of drugs has also become an alternative, however it only accounts for about 5% of German pharmaceutical trade.
Online pharmacy DocMorris has been introducing the first licence based chain pharmacy model in Germany in 2007 (as opposed to the current independent pharmacy model). Alongside their brand, they are offering standardized services in their pharmacies, whilst they do not operate or own them. They also offer discounted OTC products. Besides this model, German pharmacies are for the most part organized in wholesaler-based cooperations like LINDA, gesund leben-Apotheken, meine apotheke or vivesco. These cooperations are offering discounts in purchasing and support e.g. in marketing.
DocMorris CEO Ralf Däinghaus claims the German system to be monopolistic because government sets the profit margin that drug makers, wholesalers and pharmacists are allowed to make, resulting in strongly invariant price levels at all traditional outlets- even though most of the 21,500 pharmacies in the country are run independently. Traditional German pharmacists respond that a strategy of generally discounting pharmaceuticals may push people to use more drugs and would be against the general principles of health and customer protection.
Hong Kong
India
India's retail pharmacy sector is beginning to consolidate into a group of large players, many of them owned by larger health groups and/or franchised.
- Medlife
- Noble Plus Pharmacy & Skincare
- 98.4 Pharmacy
- Apollo Pharmacy (division of Apollo Hospitals)
- Dhanwantary Medicare
- Fortis Healthworld
- Guardian Pharmacy
- LifeKen (Bought by Religare Wellness)
- MedPlus Health Services
- Pasumai Pharmacies
- Reliance Health and Pharma
- Thulasi Pharmacies
- Trust Chemists & Druggists
Ireland
- HealthWest Community Pharmacy
- Lloyds Pharmacy
Israel
Jordan
- Orange Pharmacy
- Dawacom
- Pharmacy-One
Lithuania
- BENU
- Camelia
- Euro VaistinÄ—
- GintarinÄ— vaistinÄ—
- Ramunėlių vaistinė
Latvia
- BENU
- Euro Aptieka
- MÄ"ness aptieka
- A Aptieka
Macau
Malaysia
- Alpha Pharmacy
- Alpro Pharmacy
- Apex Pharmacy
- Caring Pharmacy
- Constant Pharmacy
- Cosway Pharmacy
- D'Apotic Pharmacy
- Guardian Pharmacy
- Healthlane Pharmacy
- Lovy Pharmacy
- Multicare Pharmacy
- Vitacare
- Watsons
Mexico
- Farmacias Similares
- Farmacias Benavides
- Farmacias del Ahorro
- Farmacias Guadalajara
- Medicina Mexico
Montenegro
- Tea Medica
- Lijek
- Holos- first private pharmacy
Nepal
- Acme Pharmacy pvt.ltd.
- Mediplus Pharmacy
- Xeno Pharmacy
- Shrashu Pharmacy
- Aaravee Med Distributors
- Heaven pharmacy
Netherlands
Pharmacies in the Netherlands are mostly independently owned by pharmacists. In 2011, 31% of all pharmacies were part of one of the following chains:
- Alliance Healthcare
- BENU
- D.I.O. Drogist
- Mediq
- Medsen Apotheek
- SAL apotheken
- Thio Pharma
- Zorggroep Almere
New Zealand
- Life Pharmacy
- Countdown Pharmacy
- Unichem
Norway
- Alliance Apotek
- Alliance Boots (opened in 2008 under the name Boots Apotek, using the same logos and products as in the UK)
- Apotek 1
- Central Norway Pharmaceutical Trust
- Ditt Apotek
- Northern Norway Pharmaceutical Trust
- Southern and Eastern Norway Pharmaceutical Trust
- Vitusapotek
- Western Norway Pharmaceutical Trust
Pakistan
- Irfan medical store samundri katchari bazar
- Yamin medical store samundri
- Madni medical store samundri
- Bajwa medical center
- Irfan pharmacy fsd road samundri
- Mudassar pharmacy
- Faizan medical store samundri
- Mujahid Pharmacy fsd
- Care Pharmacy fsd
- irfan Medical Store samundri in katchari bazar
- faizan Pharmacy
- Khawaja Sons
- Muhammadi Medical Store
- Shifa Pharmacy and Lab Medical Store
- Time Medicose
- AL-Furqan Pharmacy
- [(Rehman Medical Pharmacy)]
Peru
Philippines
- Mercury Drug
- Watsons
- Rose Pharmacy Inc.
- The Generics Pharmacy
- Generika Drugstore
- South Star Drug
- Citidrug 2-in-1 Drugstore
- Everwell Drug Store
- ThreeSixty Pharmacy
- GA2 Pharmacy
- HBC Shopmore
- St. Joseph Drugstore
- Rhode Pharmacy
Poland
- Apteki Dr.Max
- Apteki Dbam o Zdrowie
- Apteki Cefarm
- Apteki Zico
- Apteki Sloneczne
- Apteki Euroapteka
- Super-Pharm
Puerto Rico
Defunct Chains
Singapore
Pharmacies in Singapore:
- Guardian Pharmacy (mannings)
- NHG (National Healthcare Group) Pharmacy (mostly found in neighborhood polyclinics managed by NHG)
- NTUC Unity Pharmacy
- Watsons Pharmacy
Sweden
- Apoteket
- Apoteket Hjärtat
- Apoteksgruppen
- Doc Morris
- Kronans droghandel
- VÃ¥rdapoteket
Taiwan
- Greenspot pharmacy taiwan
- Watsons
- Cosmed
Thailand
- Alliance Boots
- eXta health and Beauty
- GNC
- Watsons
United Arab Emirates
- Life Pharmacy Chain with 150+ Pharmacies
- Aster Pharmacy
- Bin Sina Pharmacy
- SUPER CARE GROUP
United Kingdom
Pharmacy-led chains
- Walgreens Alliance Boots â€" has over 2,500 stores:
- Alliance Unichem â€" merged on 31 July 2006 with Boots the Chemists, to form Alliance Boots â€" had just under 1,000 stores
- Moss Pharmacy â€" acquired by Alliance UniChem in 2005 and rebranded to "Alliance Pharmacy"
- Boots UK
- Chemist-4-U - an online pharmacy which also has pharmacy stores throughout the UK
- Well Pharmacy â€" has 782 branches in the UK
- Gordons Chemist â€" has 60 branches in the UK
- Lloyds Pharmacy â€" owned by Celesio (until 2003 named GEHE), has over 1,600 pharmacies in the UK
- Numark â€" buying group of over 2,000 independently owned pharmacies in the UK
- Rowlands Pharmacy â€" chain of over 500 branches throughout the UK
- Superdrug â€" has over 225 in-store pharmacies in the UK
- Weldricks - chain of 61 pharmacies based mainly in South Yorkshire
- PCT Healthcare â€" over 130 independent pharmacies throughout the Midlands, Lancashire and Merseyside.
- Tims & Parker â€" merged with Peak Pharmacy in 2001 to form PCT Healthcare
- Manor Pharmacy â€" acquired by PCT Healthcare in 2016, has 52 stores
- Cox & Robinson â€" acquired by Manor Pharmacy in 2006, has 16 stores
Supermarket chains
- Asda â€" has more than 101 in-store pharmacies in the UK
- Morrisons
- Sainsbury's â€" hundreds of stores have in-store pharmacies, including consulting rooms; Sainsbury's is the first supermarket in the UK to have GPs working in their pharmacies as part of smaller doctor surgeries
- Tesco
Online Only Pharmacies
- Pharmacy2U - an online pharmacy
- PharmacyDepot - an online pharmacy
United States
Many pharmacy chains in the United States are owned and operated by regional supermarket brands, or national big-box store brands such as Walmart. These pharmacies are located within their larger chain stores. The three largest free-standing pharmacy chains in the United States are Walgreens, CVS, and Rite Aid; as of 2015, Walgreens and Rite-Aid are currently in the process of merging into one company.
Although not a pharmacy chain, many of the fairly ubiquitous Costco stores include a pharmacy and - in California at least - the pharmacy is available to non-members. Their prices are likely to be among the lowest.
Ranking of Largest Chains
The table below shows the Top 25 Pharmacy chains in the United States per state ranked by the number of pharmacists per chain, according to the National Pharmacy Market Summary done by SK&A in 2015.
Top 25 Pharmacy chains ranked by the number of pharmacists Stand-alone Pharmacy chains
Defunct chains
Vatican City
Vietnam
Pharmacy chains
Phano Pharmacy Pharmacity Medicare MyChau Vistar
Departments
Patient care settings
Rankings
References
External links
