NZ medicine recall review
June 4, 2010
NEW Zealand Health Minister
Tony Ryall has announced an
urgent review of medicine recalls,
following the spate of recent
incidents which have involved
significant input from the country’s
community pharmacists (PD 28 May).
The move follows agitation by the
Pharmacy Guild of New Zealand,
with its president, community
pharmacist Ian Johnson, having
initiated legal action against
GlaxoSmithKline over a January
recall of warfarin as a test case.
There have been four medicine
recalls so far this year in NZ,
including an issue affecting more
than 40,000 patients after reports
of non-consistently sized tablets in
atenolol manufactured by
Alphapharm’s sister company
Mylan New Zealand.
The minister issued a statement
saying “Pharmacists have asked
whether the processes, contracting
and compensation arrangements
for medicine recalls are adequate.
NZ medicine recall review
“I believe the issue could benefit
from closer scrutiny,” he said.
The Director-General of Health
will update the government on the
matter in a month’s time, after
taking input from appropriate
people in the sector.
The NZ Guild has urged that an
experience community pharmacist
be involved in the review, with ceo
Annabel Young saying the
establishment of clear procedures
for managing recalls is “crucial for
patient safety, the credibility of
recalls and for how pharmacy is to
be compensated for the time
involved in managing recalls”.
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 04 Jun 10To see the full newsletter, see the embedded issue below or CLICK HERE to download Pharmacy Daily from 04 Jun 10
