16:36 Jan 10 

Thanks to SJLD for reassuring me about my choice of the term 'formulation'. Thanks to Alistair also: perhaps it's true that the author didn't necessarily intend all three actions 'conception + préparation + distribution' to be applied to all the types of pharmacists mentioned, but I read the sentence as meaning that all these actions are applied to all the pharmacists, which is why I'm going with 'formulation' as this term can used for all.

15:29 Jan 4 

The text says: "[...] doivent être exercées exclusivement sous la responsabilité de pharmaciens diplômés, dans les pharmacies de ville, les hôpitaux ou dans l'industrie pharmaceutique."

At no time does it state that the drug must be designed by a "pharmacien de ville". It is the researcher working in the pharmaceutical industry who designs the drug. That is why the translation "design" seems appropriate to me.

15:26 Jan 4 

Yes, I share your misgivings. "Design" can certainly not be applied to all the circumstances mentioned. I think "formulation" would work well here.
http://www.larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais/pharmacie/6012...

14:33 Jan 4 

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions and comments so far. As Lisa points out, it would be strange for a pharmacist in a 'pharmacie de ville' to design a drug. This is the very thing that bothers me about this translation. I was wondering if in this case, 'conception' might be something like 'formulation' (i.e. that the pharmacist mixes together some ingredients to make a drug) or something along those lines...

14:29 Jan 4 

"Prescription drugs" might be an alternative but later on in the original text it mentions that only prescribed drugs would be refunded. "drugs design" is the generally accepted for the pharmaceutical industry.

14:18 Jan 4 

Are we sure that this is 'drug design' in this instance? Is this really something that a pharmacist in a 'pharmacie de ville' would be doing? I'm not sure.