Swedish chain challenges state drug sale monopoly

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The owner of one of Sweden’s top three supermarket chains said on Thursday it would begin to sell nicotine chewing gum, undermining the complete state monopoly of the retail of all types of drugs.

The decision by Axfood, owner of the Hemkop and Willys chains, comes after a series of legal moves by opponents of the monopoly, including a judgment from European Union’s top court.

Axfood said it interpreted the domestic and EU rulings as meaning stores could now sell products to help people give up smoking.

"As soon as we in the Swedish grocery sector have agreed the rules for selling such products we intend to supply our stores with nicotine chewing gum and nicotine patches,” Axfood executive Jonas Kohler said in a statement.

So far, state-owned pharmacy chain Apoteket has held a monopoly on all drugs sales, prescription and non-prescription.

Analysts have estimated the total Swedish drugs market as being worth around 34 billion Swedish crowns ($4.50 billion), while Axfood said the nicotine chewing gum segment was worth up to 400 million crowns a year.

The EU court of justice, ruling on the case of another businessman who had sold nicotine chewing gum, said the monopoly was illegal, but only because of the way it purchased in medicines, not for the monopoly itself.

The ruling has left conflicting interpretations in its wake.

However, the fact Sweden had now dropped its original case against the businessman who sold the chewing gum had persuaded Axfood to start selling that product, the group said.

Kohler told Reuters that for the time being, Axfood had no intention of selling other drugs such as headache tablets or cold cures, although it believed customers wanted to buy such products at supermarkets and not just in Apoteket.

The government has also said it might allow the sale of nicotine chewing gum outside Apoteket, although it has so far taken no decision. 

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