A group representing community pharmacies is taking a multinational drug company to court, seeking compensation for the cost of a product recall.
In January, GlaxoSmithKline asked 900 pharmacies to recall all 3mg tablets of the drug Marevan they had dispensed since November 2009.
Pharmacy Guild chief executive Annabel Young says members spent hours contacting and advising patients about the recall.
Ms Young says GlaxoSmithKline is refusing to give any compensation for the work, and court action is planned to recover an estimated $500,000.
The guild will fund one pharmacy to take the company to court, to establish whether it is reasonable to pay when asking someone to provide a service, she says.
GlaxoSmithKline says it and other industry members are trying to come up with a set of compensation guidelines.
General manager Geoff McDonald says the company is not reluctant to do the right thing, it is simply that there is no process to guide it.
