LAST year's up-scheduling of codeine medications to prescription-only (Schedule 4) has resulted in a significant decrease in the amount of codeine supplied to Australian patients, according to new figures released by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA).
The TGA has analysed pharmacy industry sales data provided by IQVIA, with the results showing the total number of codeine-containing products supplied in Australia during 2018 was about 50% lower than the average total supplied in the previous four years.
Last year there were 17.1 million packs of codeine supplied, compared to an average of 34.7 million annually between 2014 and 2017, with the 2018 total also including one month's trading in Jan prior to the up-scheduling coming into force.
The TGA said its figures also debunked suggestions that many patients were switched from low- to high-strength codeine medicines after up-scheduling.
"Between Feb and Dec 2018, the supply of high-strength 30mg Schedule 4 codeine was 7,274kg, as compared with the projected 6,816kg without up-scheduling...the difference was not statistically significant," the TGA said.
"Our modelling showed that the decreases in total codeine sales were not due to long term trends in the monthly per capita supply, which we found to be stable," a summary of the outcomes added.
The TGA said the IQVIA data did not allow it to draw conclusions about codeine usage among population subgroups or trace individual patients' medicine supply over time.
Further analyses are now under way which will include comparisons with other data sets such as PBS data to further understand the impact of up-scheduling on the amounts of codeine dispensed.
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