Pharmacies, which are caught between the healthcare system, supplementary insurance organisations, pharmaceutical companies and wholesale distributors, are unique businesses being that they integrate a protected market sector (monopolies on drug sales) and a competitive sector (para-pharmacy). New administrational measures (remote transmission of invoices, the right to substitute for drugs prescribed, etc.) for pharmacies participate in the redefinition of their role within the organisation of the healthcare system, yet without questioning their monopoly. We observe that the pharmacists are making changes in management by playing with the different statuses of the products they sell and by using specialised employees. In this sense, pharmacies are far from being simple agencies for distributing products prescribed by doctors, but they participate in creating the healthcare product market, like other players.