THE Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has confirmed its decision to upschedule products containing codeine to a prescription only status from over-the-counter (S2/3 to S4) (PD breaking news).
The changes will be effective from 01 Feb 2018, until which time there will be no adjustments to the availability of these products, allowing suppliers and retailers to adjust their stock positions, and set up new approved labelling.
Patients requiring painkilling medicines containing codeine will need to secure a prescription from their prescribing healthcare professional to access these meds.
The TGA said extensive consultation with all stakeholders revealed that although the current codeine containing products were never intended for long term use, many patients had been using them to self-medicate for chronic pain exposing themselves to the risk of addiction.
In addition, the TGA said it took into consideration that there was little evidence that low-dose codeine medicines were any more effective for pain relief or cough than similar medicines without codeine.
The Pharmacy Guild of Australia has responded to the decision with a "fails consumers" statement claiming that the necessity of a prescription "will simply add to overall healthcare costs and do little to address the misuse of these products by some patients".
Guild national president George Tambassis argued that community pharmacists could manage the addiction/misuse issue.
Using the MedsASSIST real-time recording system developed by the Guild and in use since Mar this year, Australian pharmacists have denied codeine containing products to some 70,000 patients suspected of misuse, with almost 50% of these being referred on to their GP.
The upscheduling would "create a barrier to the majority of consumers who use these products safely," he added.
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