The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 274 No 7353 p696
11 June 2005

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Recipe for reclassification more
NAWP — 100 years of fellowship more

Recipe for reclassification

A self-limiting acute condition that can be treated with a single, effective medicine: such is the perfect recipe for reclassification of a medicine from a prescription-only product to a pharmacy product. Now, after many years of waiting and hoping, pharmacists and patients have been rewarded: the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has given the go-ahead for the treatment of conjunctivitis with over-the-counter chloramphenicol eye drops (p697).

For patients this will be a huge boon. Conjunctivitis can develop rapidly. It makes people self-conscious and, too often, there is a delay in getting an appointment with a GP.

Pharmacists will, within the first few hours of symptoms developing, be able to offer a treatment that has been known to work for decades. A process that can last two days will be reduced to five minutes.

There have been fears about the safety of chloramphenicol (associated with the development of aplastic anaemia and grey baby syndrome) but, if the eye drops are used carefully and as recommended, the risk of systemic absorption of chloramphenicol is low.

Tellingly, the Government’s desire to encourage self-treatment and reduce the burden of trivial conditions on the NHS may have counted for something during the recent consultation over the switch. This is not to suggest that safety has been compromised but that good sense has prevailed.

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NAWP — 100 years of fellowship

Just over 100 years ago, women were only beginning to make their mark on the pharmacy profession. A handful of women had managed to qualify but, faced with a traditional male governing body and accepting the difficulty of attempting to join them, they launched out on their own and formed the Association of Women Pharmacists. Since renamed the National Association of Women Pharmacists, it celebrates its centenary, which coincides with the anniversary of the inaugural meeting, next week. We mark the occasion with an 18-page special feature beginning on p729.

That it has kept going for 100 years must be seen as an achievement and a reflection of the fact that the association has provided valuable advice and assistance to women throughout the 20th century and beyond.

Now that the profession is more than 50 per cent female, some people may wonder whether NAWP has a purpose any more. But with increasing numbers of pharmacists (men as well as women) developing portfolio careers, changing direction mid-career or spending their lives as locums, the value of membership of the association (now open to men as well as women) in giving practical support is not likely to disappear.

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