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TL;DRMSV3 is the German standard interface for real time communication between pharmacies or hospital pharmacies and pharmaceutical wholesalers. It lets an ordering system query the current availability of an article at a wholesaler and then place the order electronically, receiving an immediate status response. MSV3 is an internet based web service standard and the de facto norm for the German pharmacy ordering process.
The abbreviation is expanded by ADAS, the association that maintains the specification, as Medium Speed Version. MSV3 is the third generation of the standard. It replaced the modem based MSV2 procedure around 2013 and 2014 and moved the exchange from an ISDN telephone connection to modern internet protocols and web services.
MSV3 is not owned by a single company. It is defined jointly by three German associations, each representing one side of the market: the DAV (Deutscher Apothekerverband) for the pharmacies, PHAGRO (Bundesverband des pharmazeutischen Großhandels) for the wholesalers, and ADAS (Bundesverband Deutscher Apotheken-Softwarehäuser) for the pharmacy software houses. That three sided governance is the point, because the standard has to serve buyers, sellers and the software in between at the same time. According to PHAGRO, more than 80 percent of German pharmacies use MSV3 for their ordering.
This is the single most frequently confused point about MSV3, and it decides which role your own system plays. The two ends are not interchangeable. The client is the side that asks and orders, the server is the side that answers and supplies.
| Aspect | MSV3-Client | MSV3-Server |
|---|---|---|
| Market side | Buyer: pharmacy, hospital pharmacy, trade | Seller: wholesaler, supplier, manufacturer |
| Role in the exchange | Initiates the connection | Responds to the connection |
| Availability | Sends the query, is this PZN in stock and deliverable | Answers with stock, deliverability and delivery time |
| Ordering | Submits the order and reads the confirmation | Accepts the order and returns a status |
| Who operates it | The ordering software in the pharmacy or hospital | The supplier back end |
In practice a hospital pharmacy that wants to check stock and order runs the client role, and each wholesaler it connects to operates a server. One client typically talks to many servers, one per supplier. Getting this mapping wrong is the usual source of failed integrations, because a system built as a client cannot answer queries, and a system built as a server does not go out and order.
MSV3 covers the full order cycle, but it splits cleanly into a read part and a write part.
The first two steps, the availability query and its answer, are read only. The last three steps write, because they trigger a real commercial order. That distinction matters for how the standard is adopted, since a read only availability check carries far less operational risk than automated order placement.
Prices are not part of the standard scope. Full line wholesalers do not pass prices over MSV3, because the price follows from the commercial agreement between the two parties rather than from a single query. Expecting price data from the interface is a common source of project plans that cannot work.
MSV3 is a domain specific standard, not a generic integration style. It defines the exact messages, fields and sequence for the pharmacy to wholesaler process, so that every participant implements availability and ordering the same way. A general REST API, by contrast, is a technical style for connecting systems that says nothing about pharmaceutical ordering on its own. The two are complementary: a platform can expose article data over REST and web services while also speaking MSV3 to wholesaler servers.
pharmazie.com serves both sides of the standard. The MSV3 client interface (the buyer side) covers real time availability queries against all connected wholesalers and direct suppliers, including quantity, possible partial delivery and expected delivery date, plus PZN list batches, supplier priority and digital ordering. The MSV3 server interface (the seller side) lists a company in the official supplier directory of the standard and accepts orders as structured data instead of fax, mail and phone. Both directions cost around 300 euros per month.
The difference to a pure interface is the data layer underneath: over 25 pharmaceutical databases in one search, rather than buying the interface and the drug data from two separate contracts.
MSV3 is a German ordering standard, so it is a DACH feature rather than an international one. A bridge between MSV3 and the European EDI standards is in preparation.
