Codeine record pilot start
January 28, 2016
THE Pharmacy Guild of Australia
has announced that, subject to
further consultation with the
Therapeutic Goods Administration
(TGA), it is moving forward with its
pilot real-time codeine recording
and monitoring system, officially
titled “MedsASSIST – informing
medicine decisions”.
The TGA had deferred its decision
to upschedule products containing
codeine to S4 status in the face of
wide opposition and the prospect
of an online real time recording
and monitoring system developed
by the Guild and Australian Self
Medication Industry (PD 20 Nov).
Smaller pilot programs on the
new Guild solution have already
run in Newcastle and far north
Queensland areas involving around
30 pharmacies.
The original software has
now been modified to reflect
feedback gained during the trials,
Guild national president George
Tambassis said.
The newly updated program
will now be tested on around
150 pharmacies in these regions
commencing in Feb.
Tambassis said that the pilot
program will collect very important
data to help make the case that it is
not necessary for the Government
to re-schedule codeine containing
medicines to S4.
“The data collected in the pilot of
MedsASSIST will form part of the
Guild submission to the Advisory
Committee on Medicine Scheduling
(ACMS) which is meeting in mid-
March to re-consider its interim
decision to delete the Schedule 2
and Schedule 3 entries for codeine.
“The Guild’s submission to the
ACMS will once again argue that
making these medicines Schedule
4 will simply create a barrier to
the majority of consumers who
use these products safely and
effectively,” he said, adding that
the Guild has consistently argued
that rescheduling codeine will not
address issues of misuse and abuse.
The Guild has also contended that
the implementation of a Real Time
Monitoring system in community
pharmacy would be more effective
and economical to assist in
identifying at-risk consumers,
facilitate access to education
materials and support appropriate
referral when required.
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 28 Jan 16To see the full newsletter, see the embedded issue below or CLICK HERE to download Pharmacy Daily from 28 Jan 16
