French rugby club Toulon denies involvement in prescription drug probe

MARSEILLES, France (Reuters) - The president of French rugby club Toulon denied on Tuesday that any of his team members were implicated in doping after prosecutors confirmed several pharmacies were under investigation on suspicion of improperly supplying medication.

Marseilles prosecutor Brice Robin, confirming a report on RTL radio, said a formal investigation into the pharmacies was opened last May after France's AFLD anti-doping agency sounded the alarm.

“The probe is based on facts of non-compliance to drugs regulation (health code) regarding supply of medication,” Robin said, declining to give details. “The probe is not based on doping facts.”

RTL said players at European Cup holder Toulon received performance-enhancing drugs including anabolic steroids and pain medications from local pharmacies in a suspected fraud against France's public health insurance system.

"We have a lot of controls," club president Mourad Boudjellal told reporters. "There is no doping, and no organised doping here. It's a fraud against the health insurance system or social security (by a pharmacy)."

(Reporting by Jean-Francois Rosnoblet; Writing by Laurence Frost and Matthias Blamont; editing by Ralph Boulton)