In August 2025 the drugstore chain dm put a großes Blutbild (full blood count) on sale at 9,95 euro in one Karlsruhe store, with wider panels reaching about 70 euro. On 16 August 2026 dm’s own service page for that offer carries the status „Pilotphase beendet“, so the pilot has ended.
The price outlived the pilot, because a customer who read about a ten euro blood count carries that number into the pharmacy. A pharmacy that competes with a drugstore on price loses, and the answer is to compete on what a drugstore cannot offer.
Four things survive a price comparison: who may legally perform a venöse Blutentnahme (venous blood draw), the qualification of the person in front of the customer, what happens when a value returns outside the Referenzbereich (reference range), and the medication record the pharmacy holds.
dm ran the blood test pilot in only two stores
The service started on 11 August 2025 in one Karlsruhe store, as APOTHEKE ADHOC reported, and later ran in a second store in Berlin-Charlottenburg. Eleven tests were offered between 9,95 euro and 69,95 euro, with results in an app. Medical staff employed by Aware Health carried out the draws, and two stores is the documented scale.
The blood test was one part of a wider move. dm also offers an Augen-Check with retinal photography at 14,95 euro through Skleo Health and a skin analysis through the teledermatology provider dermanostic, per PTAheute, and in April 2026 t-online reported a plan to widen the checks to about 30 stores. The positioning is Gesundheitsnahversorger rather than one test.
The blood part then broke on the provider side. Aware Health filed for a vorläufiges Insolvenzverfahren (preliminary insolvency proceedings) at the Amtsgericht Charlottenburg on 21 May 2026, and dm Geschäftsführer Sebastian Bayer said in June 2026 that the offer had been designed as a pilot phase and had produced „wertvolle strategische Erkenntnisse“.
Doctors criticised the model and pharmacists have read that criticism
PTAheute collected the main objections in September 2025, and they are worth reading rather than cheering, because some apply to any pharmacy selling the same test. Dr. Dirk Heinrich of the Spitzenverband der Fachärztinnen und Fachärzte Deutschlands said medical diagnostics is not a consumer product sitting between baby nappies and nail polish, and Markus Beier of the Hausärzteverband told Tagesspiegel that medical resources were being wasted.
A legal track runs alongside it. The Wettbewerbszentrale has brought proceedings against dm over the eye screening on Heilpraktikergesetz grounds, and the pharmacy owner Nojan Nejatian filed a Prüfantrag with the Landesapothekerkammer Hessen in November 2025, arguing that blood diagnostics belong to the Heilberufe.
Two objections apply to a pharmacy as well, because a test without an indication and a result without follow-up are problems wherever they happen. A pharmacy answers them with a documented Aufklärung (informed explanation and consent), an Anamnese and a referral path.
German law decides who may draw venous blood in a pharmacy
Since 2 July 2026 the venöse Blutentnahme has had its own basis in § 11c ApoG, introduced by the Apothekenversorgung-Weiterentwicklungsgesetz, and the ApoVWG guide sets out the package. Only an approbierter Apotheker may perform the draw, after a confirmed ärztliche Schulung (training signed off by a physician), in their own öffentliche Apotheke, on people aged 18 or over and for diagnostic purposes only. The puncture alone may be delegated to a Pharmazeut im Praktikum with their own ärztliche Schulung, while a PTA may not draw blood at all. That permission stands in the ApoG, is tied to a named qualification and is supervised by a chamber.
The qualification matters most when a value sits outside the Referenzbereich, because the pharmacist reading the Befund sets it next to the customer’s medication. A raised liver value in someone on a statin changes meaning once the medication is known, and no drugstore holds a dispensing record.
A customer comparison holds up on five plain questions
| The question a customer asks |
Drugstore health check as reported |
Pharmacy blood test under § 11c ApoG |
| What does it cost |
9,95 euro for a großes Blutbild, up to 69,95 euro |
A Selbstzahlerleistung the pharmacy prices itself |
| Who takes the blood sample |
Medical staff employed by Aware Health |
An approbierter Apotheker after ärztliche Schulung |
| Where does the result get explained |
In an app, telemedical consultation optional |
In person with the pharmacist who took the sample |
| What happens outside the Referenzbereich |
The Kassenärztliche Vereinigung Baden-Württemberg criticised the follow-up structures, per PTAheute |
The pharmacist reads the Befund against the medication and refers where indicated |
| Does the provider know my medication |
A drugstore holds no dispensing record |
The pharmacy holds the medication picture |
The drugstore model genuinely wins on convenience and price
A post that refuses to concede this is not useful. dm has more locations than any pharmacy, longer opening hours, and footfall that arrives for shampoo and leaves with a blood test booked. There is no prescription, and 9,95 euro sits in the same bracket as a face cream. A Deloitte survey reported by t-online found that 60 percent of people in Germany consider health services in retail attractive. Price alone was never the winning ground in the local pharmacy against mail order comparison either.
A pharmacy answers this with positioning rather than a price cut
The move that works is selling what a drugstore cannot assemble. A blood test in a pharmacy is a pharmazeutische Dienstleistung (pharmaceutical service) shaped offer even when billed privately, and the pharmaceutical work is what the customer pays for: a documented Anamnese, sound Präanalytik (pre-analytical handling), an akkreditiertes Labor (accredited laboratory), and a conversation about the Befund.
Bundling helps more than discounting, because a blood test attached to a Medikationsanalyse justifies a price that reflects pharmacist time, and the guide to Selbstzahlerleistungen covers that. Comparative claims against a named competitor sit inside the Heilmittelwerbegesetz (German act on advertising in the health sector), so a pharmacy is safer describing what it does than what a drugstore fails to do.
A queue at ten euro is evidence that people want this
The pilot produced a demand signal rather than a competitive threat. dm said the feedback was very positive, and the planned expansion to about 30 stores came before the provider failed. No customer numbers were published, and the insolvency was the provider’s balance sheet rather than a verdict on demand. What the launch did show is that consumers will book a blood test in a shop and pay for it themselves, which the comparison of self-tests against laboratory testing picks up.
A pharmacy has a short list of things to settle next
The first item is the ärztliche Schulung, because § 11c ApoG is in force and the Mustercurriculum from the Bundesapothekerkammer, due 2 November 2026, is not a precondition for starting. The second is the room, the Standardarbeitsanweisungen in the QMS and the notification to the state authority at least one week before the first draw. The third is the price and the bundle, set against pharmacist time.
Pharmacists ask these questions about the drugstore blood test
Is the dm blood test still available in August 2026
No. dm’s own service page for the Aware Health Blutanalyse carries the status Pilotphase beendet, checked on 16 August 2026. The provider filed for a vorläufiges Insolvenzverfahren on 21 May 2026, and dm called the offer a pilot phase.
Should a pharmacy match the ten euro price
Matching it is very hard, because 9,95 euro does not cover pharmacist time, Präanalytik and laboratory cost in a pharmacy. A blood test in a pharmacy is a Selbstzahlerleistung, so the pharmacy sets its own price, and the pharmaceutical work around the result is what carries it.
Was the drugstore blood draw lawful
That question is still open. The Wettbewerbszentrale has brought proceedings against dm over the eye screening on Heilpraktikergesetz grounds, and Nojan Nejatian filed a Prüfantrag with the Landesapothekerkammer Hessen in November 2025. Nothing published settles it.
May a PTA draw blood if the pharmacy offers this service
No. Under § 11c ApoG only an approbierter Apotheker may perform the venöse Blutentnahme, after a confirmed ärztliche Schulung. The puncture alone may be delegated to a Pharmazeut im Praktikum with their own ärztliche Schulung, and a PTA may support preparation and documentation only.
This is general information about German pharmacy law and business practice, not legal advice. The responsible Apothekerkammer or a lawyer decides individual cases.
