The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 277 No 7423 p497
21 October 2006

Society summary

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

Law and Ethics Bulletin, 2001 to present

• Corrections to the “Retail sale of pharmacy medicines” and “Labelling of medicinal products' sections of MEP
• Amendment to the Law and Ethics Bulletin on The Veterinary Medicines Regulations 2006

Corrections to the “Retail sale of pharmacy medicines” and “Labelling of medicinal products' sections of MEP

Pharmacists and pharmacy technicians are advised of corrections to be made to ‘Medicines, ethics and practice: a guide for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians’ (30th edition, July 2006).

On p8, the last paragraph of the section on “Retail sale of pharmacy medicines”, currently states: “The products referred to in the previous paragraph, ie, large packs of products containing aspirin, aloxiprin and paracetamol are not subject to the legal requirement for pharmacy medicines in that they need not be sold by or under the supervision of a pharmacist; however there is a professional requirement that these large packs be supervised.”

This paragraph should be deleted as this is incorrect. Products licensed as P medicines must only be sold under the supervision of a pharmacist.

On pp18–19, the three references to “the Medicines (Marketing Authorisations etc) Regulations 1994, as amended” should read “the Medicines for Human Use (Marketing Authorisations etc) Regulations 1994, as amended”.

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Amendment to the Law and Ethics Bulletin on The Veterinary Medicines Regulations 2006

Further to the Law and Ethics Bulletin on The Veterinary Medicines Regulations 2006 (PJ, 14 October, p464), which stated that a pharmacist may only supply a veterinary medicinal product (VMP) classified as a POM-V, POM-VPS or NFA-VPS from registered pharmacy premises, pharmacists are advised of the following.

The Veterinary Medicines Regulations 2006 also allows pharmacists to supply VMPs classified as POM-VPS or NFA-VPS, from premises which are registered under Schedule 3, paragraph 13 of the Regulations. This includes premises approved by the VMD’s Animal Medicines Inspectorate as Saddlers and Agricultural Merchants. A list of these premises can be found on the VMD website