DAVID Heffernan, president of the NSW branch of the Pharmacy Guild, has called on Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy to resign if he does not correct statements claiming OTC codeine causes 100 deaths per year in Australia.
Murphy repeated the claims on ABC Radio yesterday, echoing other statements by Health Minister Greg Hunt, doctors groups and TGA officials which Heffernan says are "misleading, defamatory to pharmacists and must stop".
"If there is any data to back up such an overblown claim, those making the claims should produce it - but I doubt that they can because I do not believe it exists," Heffernan told PD yesterday.
"The public deserve better than having our Chief Medical Officer being just a mouthpiece for the AMA and the RACGP," he fumed.
Heffernan said the evidence shows the vast majority of deaths involving opioid drugs occur because the victim has taken a number of different drugs and alcohol, with the death caused by the collective action of the medications being used.
Where codeine was thought to be the sole cause of the death the figure is more like 25 annually in Australia - and this includes both OTC items and codeine obtained under prescription which was the cause of the majority of the deaths.
What's more, Heffernan said, the data being cited predates MedsASSIST and relates to studies undertaken between 2000 and 2013 where for the majority of the time codeine was S2.
"The Federal Health Minister relies on expert advice, yet Mr Hunt's statement that 'we're losing over 100 lives a year through over the counter codeine...' is false and defamatory to honest and decent pharmacists Australia wide," Heffernan concluded.
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