An occasional feature, prepared in the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s Professional Standards Directorate, to highlight problems and inquiries currently being handled

Supply of vaginal imidazole preparations

Since July 20, 1992, certain vaginal imidazole preparations have been exempted from prescription only status, for the treatment of vaginal candidiasis. Guidance was issued to pharmacists on how to deal with requests for such preparations until properly licensed products were available. This guidance appears on p369 of the current (40th) edition of the British National Formulary (September, 2000).

Now that a range of licensed products is available, the guidance has been reviewed by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s Professional Standards Directorate. Pharmacists are now advised that only preparations licensed for over-the-counter sale for the treatment of vaginal candidiasis may be supplied to members of the public. The 41st edition of the BNF (March, 2001) will no longer include guidance on supplying POM packs of vaginal imidazoles for over-the-counter sale.

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