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The General Pharmaceutical Council has issued a formal warning to a London-based superintendent pharmacist whose business dispensed “many” high-risk medicines on behalf of an online prescribing service. 

Ahmad Mahmoud, who is superintendent pharmacist and sole company director at Avviro Pharmacy in Harrow, received the warning on April 28 after the GPhC investigated concerns around the company’s dispensing practice between September 2021 and August 2022. 

It was found that Mr Mahmoud had failed to carry out due diligence before working with the online prescribing service and did not ensure it was “appropriately regulated” or that its prescribers worked in accordance with UK regulations. 

In particular, the GPhC was concerned that the service made prescribing decisions “almost wholly on the basis of an online questionnaire”.

“This service included the supply of modafinil, amitriptyline, propranolol, weight loss medications and medicines used for the treatment of conditions which require ongoing monitoring and management, including asthma medications,” said the regulator.  

It added that “many other medicines” dispensed on behalf of the service were  “unsuitable to be prescribed only on the basis of a questionnaire without any other safeguards in place”.

Mr Mahmoud did not carry out risk assessments or audits of the dispensing he carried out on behalf of the online service, and also failed to ensure he received sufficient information from either the service or patients’ GP to satisfy himself that supplies were clinically appropriate. 

Lapses were also identified with regard to monitoring patients on an ongoing basis and recording these supplies in the private prescriptions register.

He was found to have breached five professional standards, including ones relating to person-centred care and the need to speak up where there are concerns around unsafe practice. 

The warning, which will be published on the register until April 28, 2026, reminds Mr Mahmoud that there must be “robust systems and checks in place” when issuing medicines in “an online setting”. 

It also states: “To dispense medicines without proper safeguards in place puts public safety at risk and can undermine confidence in the profession.

“You must ensure that any services you with work are appropriately regulated and safe.”