A quantitative classification of OTC medicines regulations in 30 European countries: dispensing restrictions, distribution, pharmacy ownership, and pricing systems.

Our findings point out that OTC medicines are in general not subject to pricing systems, selling is allowed online, and ownership of pharmacies is mostly private. However, regarding dispensing restrictions, pharmacy chains, and establishment restrictions of pharmacies, we found heterogeneity that is also visible in our cluster analysis, since we identified 7 clusters.