APPROXIMATELY $18 million worth of pregnancy tests are sold through pharmacies each year in Australia, and the recent Therapeutic Goods Administration probe into the sector (PD Tue) appears to have generated significant confusion, according to Geoff Lovell from Pharmabroker.
A number of mainstream media reports have picked up on the controversy, which saw a number of manufacturers withdraw their products from the market rather than have them tested by the TGA.
However the message in some cases has evolved into recommendations to visit a doctor, rather than a pharmacy, to find out if you're pregnant.
Lovell cited the example of the Forelife pregnancy test kit brand, represented by Pharmabroker, which is supplied to both retail pharmacies and doctors - meaning pharmacists and staff can be confident to recommend it despite what consumers may have seen in the press.
Forelife is owned by an Australian company based in the NSW Southern Highlands, and has a medical business supplying doctors with the kits, which are not available in supermarkets.
He said with pregnancy test kits, a "good sized category" in pharmacy, it was important that consumers were reassured they could come to a pharmacy to ascertain if they were pregnant in the first instance.
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