Pharmacy category increases public access to medicines
There is a tendency for more products to be made available without a prescription in countries that have certain products that are only available through pharmacies, according to an article published in this month's issue of the International
Journal of Pharmacy Practice (2006;14:95).
Furthermore, a structure with two pharmacy categories allows greater
consumer access.
Andrew Gilbert, director of the Quality Use of Medicines and Pharmacy
Research Centre, University of South Australia, and colleagues compared
the scheduling of 119 products in Australia, the UK, Canada, France,
New Zealand and the US.
The researchers found that more products were available without a prescription
in Australia and New Zealand (81 and 85, respectively) than in the UK,
Canada and France (72, 66 and 64, respectively). The US had the least
number of medicines available without a prescription (53).
The researchers explain that Australia, New Zealand and Canada classify
medicines into four schedules: prescription-only,
pharmacist-only, pharmacy-only and general sale. The UK and France have
three categories (prescription-only, pharmacy-only and general sale)
and the US has only two schedules (prescription-only and general sale).
“The presence of a pharmacy-only category provides a structure
whereby greater consumer access to medicines is available,” the
researchers say.
They add that their research gives some support to the view that a structure
offering two pharmacy schedules allows greater consumer access to medicines
than one offering a single schedule.
Article p637 |
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