The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 280 No 7495 p353
29 March 2008

This article
Reprint   Photocopy

  Acrobat Reader

News summary

Clearer evidence needed of OTC dose benefits

Regulators should insist on better evidence to support the use of over-the-counter doses of medicines, a BMJ article argues this week (BMJ 2008;336:694).

Medicines may be less effective in low doses and so regulators should ask for clearer evidence of benefit at the OTC dose if this is lower than the dose usually prescribed, the authors say.

They add that the benefits of OTC availability and self-treatment probably only apply to a small subset of medicines and that

patients may misdiagnose themselves. “Pharmacists can provide clinical advice to minimise the risk of misuse of pharmacy-only drugs, but supervision by a busy community pharmacist in the UK may be perfunctory,” they say.

The authors also warn that, despite the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s internet logo initiative (PJ, 5/12 January, p3), the lack of medicines regulation in much of the world and access to medicines through the internet could compromise patient safety.