Discount shops defy MHRA over paracetamol sales
Sales of multiple packs of analgesics are still taking place despite
pressure from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency
to try to persuade retailers to restrict sales to no more than two packs
at a time.
This week, the agency announced that two retails chains, Poundland Ltd
and The 99p Store, had refused to adopt what the MHRA describes as “responsible
policies” over analgesic sales. Their stance has prompted a warning
that the law could be tightened.
Jeremy Mean, policy group manager at the MHRA, said: “The Government
has made clear that it will consider changing the law if retailers do
not act responsibly. . . . With the right to sell medicines comes the
responsibility to do so with care.”
An MHRA spokesman would not say whether Mr Mean’s statement should
be interpreted as a threat to take action. “It’s an option
open to us, should we need to go down that line,” he said.
However, The 99p Store has changed its policy after being asked to comment
by The Pharmaceutical Journal.
Hussein Lalani, the company’s commercial director, said: “The
99p Store is a responsible retailer and would like to co-operate with
the MHRA in the interest of public safety.”
He added that a change in the law would be a good idea because, he claimed,
many retailers sold more than two packs in any one transaction, including
at least one branch of Boots.
However, a Boots spokeswoman commented: “We have a till bar in
place on all tills in Boots stores outside the health care area, which
restricts the sale of more than two packets of 16 paracetamol in accordance
with the MHRA guidelines. In the health care area and under the supervision
of a pharmacist it is legal to sell up to 100 paracetamol tablets in
accordance with [the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s guide] ‘Medicines,
Ethics and Practice’.”
Poundland Ltd did not respond to The Journal’s request for a comment.
|
The
Pharmaceutical Journal
Acrobat
Reader