A Cairo Misdemeanor court ruled that a branch of El Ezaby pharmacies — owned by Ahmed El Ezaby — be shut down following a lawsuit brought up by the Pharmacists Syndicate which alleges the branch was in violation of licensing regulations, Al Borsa reports. Under the Pharmacists Professions Act of 1941, pharmacies can only be named after the pharmacists under whose name the license was granted. Under the law, an individual pharmacist can receive only two licenses to open a pharmacy, a bureaucratic hurdle which limits the capacity of pharma chains to expand. El Ezaby is one of 10 pharmacy chains being sued by the Syndicate for violating the outdated law. El Ezaby has seen some of its branches closed over the past year by the Consumer Protection Authority which is says they had been selling “smuggled” meds.

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