Evidence-based concern
March 15, 2016
THE ABC has highlighted
issues around pharmacy sales
of complementary medicines,
in a Background Briefing radio
investigation broadcast last Sunday.
The exposé collated interviews in
about a dozen pharmacies in which
the pharmacy employees showed a
lack of understanding of CMs.
Interviewees also included longtime
CM critic Ken Harvey and
Geoff March, pharmacy practice
lecturer at the Univerisity of SA
and president of union group
Professional Pharmacists Australia.
The report, titled “Should you
trust your pharmacist” asks why
trusted health professionals
are “giving credibility to these
supplements with little or no
proven health benefit”.
Products highlighted include
green-lipped mussel, prickly pear,
bilberry, chlorophyll, multivitamins,
eye health products and more,
from a range of suppliers including
Blackmores and Swisse.
The report includes examples
of advertising from Chemist
Warehouse, as well as Priceline’s
in-store “Health Heros” who are
hired to recommend vitamins and
supplements without qualifications,
the report claims.
It also raises the infamous “fries
and Coke” CM companion sale
deal proposed by the Guild and
Blackmores some years ago (PD 04
Oct 2011), and the Sansom Review
of Medicines which recommends
a new category of approvals with a
higher level of evidence.
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