Brazil Clarifies Rules for Medicine Sales Through Digital Marketplaces
Brazil’s health regulator has clarified that licensed pharmacies may use digital marketplaces for logistics and consumer delivery, but platforms cannot sell medicines independently. The model still requires specific Anvisa regulation covering dispensing, product integrity and traceability.
Marketplaces will act as pharmacy partners
Brazil has opened a regulated path for licensed pharmacies and drugstores to use digital marketplaces for medicine logistics and consumer delivery. The National Health Surveillance Agency, Anvisa, clarified that platforms such as Shopee, Mercado Livre, Rappi, Submarino, iFood and Americanas will not be allowed to sell medicines independently. They may participate only as partners of pharmacies and drugstores that hold the required licences.
According to Meio & Mensagem, Anvisa issued the clarification in a correction published in the Official Gazette on Monday, 10, after pharmaceutical industry associations requested a technical position on the limits of digital medicine sales. The intervention followed Anvisa’s withdrawal of preventive measures that had prohibited medicine sales and advertising on e-commerce platforms not owned by pharmacies or drugstores.
The correction cites Law No. 15.357 of 20 March 2026. The law permits regularly licensed pharmacies and drugstores to contract digital channels and e-commerce platforms for logistics and delivery to consumers. However, marketplace commerce remains conditional on specific rules that Anvisa has yet to issue.
Pharmacies gain reach without surrendering licences
Law No. 15.357 also allowed pharmacies to operate inside supermarket sales areas, provided that each pharmacy occupies a physically defined space and complies with applicable legal, sanitary and technical requirements. For the Brazilian Association of Pharmacies and Drugstores, Abrafarma, Anvisa’s correction confirms that the repeal of preventive restrictions did not give marketplaces unrestricted authority to sell medicines.
Abrafarma CEO Sergio Mena Barreto said the industry was not opposed to the development of online channels, but wanted transparent rules and preservation of the requirements governing medicine dispensing. The distinction is commercially significant: pharmacies retain responsibility for the regulated sale, while marketplaces supply customer access, technology and delivery capacity.
Roberto Kanter, an economist and MBA professor at FGV, told Meio & Mensagem that physical reach had long been a principal competitive advantage for pharmacy chains. Marketplace participation adds digital reach to that equation and could benefit regional chains and independent pharmacies that cannot justify the high investment required to build proprietary technology and logistics systems. Rodrigo Catani, head of Gouvêa Consulting, said established platforms could provide access to thousands of consumers, complement pharmacies’ logistics and potentially lower customer acquisition costs.
Delivery controls and customer data remain unresolved
Medicines also offer marketplaces repeat purchases and a relevant average transaction value as they seek to become consumers’ main shopping gateway. More frequent purchases generate additional behavioural data and opportunities for personalisation. That creates a strategic tension for pharmacies: when a purchase starts in a marketplace rather than a pharmacy’s own application, part of the customer relationship and the associated data passes through the platform.
The most immediate operational issue is product integrity. Catani noted that temperature, transit time, handling, exposure and damaged packaging can affect medicine quality, while many last-mile systems were originally designed for food, general retail goods or parcels. Platforms and pharmacies may therefore need new procedures to comply with pharmaceutical rules, protect products and maintain traceability. Anvisa’s forthcoming regulation will determine how these responsibilities are divided and how far marketplaces can enter the purchasing journey without becoming unlicensed medicine sellers.