Codeine up-schedule costs
October 16, 2015
THE Australian Self-Medication
Industry has revealed the cost of
up-scheduling OTC cough and cold
medicines containing codeine will
be as much as $257 million per
annum, saying the government
proposal “does not make public
health or economic sense”.
Stepping up its opposition to
the shock recommendation (PD
02 Oct), ASMI says the costs
borne by the government due to
increased doctors visits, Medicare
and dispensing costs would be $53
million annually, with a further
$174 million cost to the economy
due to productivity losses caused
by the restricted access.
“There is no evidence that cold/
flu medicines are being misused,
so it does not make sense to upschedule
them,” said ASMI director
of Regulatory and Scientific Affairs,
Steve Scarff.
“It represents an inappropriate
use of regulation and is not
proportionate to the level of risk”.
Scarff called on the Delegate to
re-examine the interim decision to
up-schedule the medicines from
S3 to S4 - and furthermore “an
implementation of 1 June 2016
is not achievable given long lead
times in the supply chain due
to the seasonal nature of these
medicines”.
He echoed the Pharmacy
Guild (PD 06 Oct) in urging a
12 month moratorium on the
decision in order to facilitate the
implementation of a mandatory
real-time monitoring system
in community pharmacy “and
sufficient time for the impacts
of the system to be rigorously
assessed”.THE Australian Self-Medication
Industry has revealed the cost of
up-scheduling OTC cough and cold
medicines containing codeine will
be as much as $257 million per
annum, saying the government
proposal “does not make public
health or economic sense”.
Stepping up its opposition to
the shock recommendation (PD
02 Oct), ASMI says the costs
borne by the government due to
increased doctors visits, Medicare
and dispensing costs would be $53
million annually, with a further
$174 million cost to the economy
due to productivity losses caused
by the restricted access.
“There is no evidence that cold/
flu medicines are being misused,
so it does not make sense to upschedule
them,” said ASMI director
of Regulatory and Scientific Affairs,
Steve Scarff.
“It represents an inappropriate
use of regulation and is not
proportionate to the level of risk”.
Scarff called on the Delegate to
re-examine the interim decision to
up-schedule the medicines from
S3 to S4 - and furthermore “an
implementation of 1 June 2016
is not achievable given long lead
times in the supply chain due
to the seasonal nature of these
medicines”.
He echoed the Pharmacy
Guild (PD 06 Oct) in urging a
12 month moratorium on the
decision in order to facilitate the
implementation of a mandatory
real-time monitoring system
in community pharmacy “and
sufficient time for the impacts
of the system to be rigorously
assessed”.
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