Celesio to seek to set up German pharmacy chain-CEO

FRANKFURT, Sept 7 (Reuters) - European drug distributor Celesio (CLSGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) will seek to use the liberalisation of Germany's pharmacy market and set up a chain of outlets, Chief Executive Fritz Oesterle said in a newspaper interview on Sunday.

"It would be nice if in the first year after the chance to buy pharmacies, we could have between 30 and 50," he told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (FAS).

"It won't be possible any faster," he added.

The chain would be called Doc Morris, the name of the mail-order pharmacy group which Celesio bought last year and which alreday has cooperation deals with over 100 German pharmacies, he said.

The European Court of Justice is due to rule in the coming months on the right of corporate entities to own and operate German pharmacies alongside the current group of individual chemists, who oppose the newcomers.

Currently, drug vendors have to be German-licenced chemists who may only run up to three stores.

Governments are keen to cut costs in the healthcare industry because the public health insurance systems that reimburse drug usage are notoriously underfunded. (Reporting by Vera Eckert; Editing by Quentin Bryar)