January 2018 new rules for prescription free medication with guidance came into force in Norway. With the new arrangement customers get obligatory guidance at the pharmacy. The goal is to make some medication more accessible while still keeping the risk of misuse and side effects low. Viagra (Sildenafil) has so far only been available by prescription in Norway. From January 2020 Viagra Reseptfri (Viagra prescription free) will be the first medication sold under the new regulations (pharmacists only). 

“The Norwegian Medicines Agency thinks that Sildenafil is well suited for self-treatment and that Viagra Reseptfri can be sold prescription free with guidance in pharmacies,”The Norwegian Medicines Agency says on their webpage. 

Guidance by a pharmacist is obligatory when buying the medicine without prescription. The pharmacist uses a checklist with questions to see if the customer has any illness or uses any other medication, that makes him ineligible to use Viagra. If the conditions for buying prescription free aren’t fulfilled, the customer will be recommended to see a physician. 

Illegal medical import 

The medicines agency thinks that approving Viagra as prescription free medication, can help reducing illegal and dangerous online purchases.

In one of four controlled international mail packages the customs agency finds illegal medicines. In many of the cases it is medication for erectile dysfunction. 

«In 2018 about 8000 medications which were uncovered in mail and courier packages, were destroyed, and about 30 percent of those were medication for erectile dysfunction,” The Norwegian Medicines Agency says. 

Good news for pharmacists

President of The Norwegian Association of Pharmacists, Rønnaug Larsen, is pleased that the new regulations finally come into use. It’s good news both for pharmacists and customers. 

“It´s always positive for the profession that det extensive pharmaceutical skills that already exists in pharmacies get used for the good of the public health,” she says and points out that pharmacists in pharmacies has high confidence in the public, and customers are used to getting good qualified help and advice.