Guild withdraws Gold Cross
October 6, 2011
THE Pharmacy Guild of Australia
has withdrawn its Gold Cross
endorsement of the Blackmores
Companions range, following weeks
of public debate over the issue.
According to the Guild the move to
withdraw the deal was made jointly
with Blackmores.
“The mutual decision has been
taken in view of the strong level of
public concern about the proposal,
based on some media reporting of
the endorsement which was ill-informed
and inflammatory,” the
Guild said in a statement.
Defending its original
arrangement, the Guild said it was
entered into in good faith with “no
intention of undermining the
professionalism and integrity of
participating pharmacists.
“There is not now and never
would be any direction from the
Guild for pharmacists to be
involved in unprofessional,
unethical or clinically unsound
conduct,” the Guild said.
“The idea that community
pharmacists would take part in
commercial “upselling” without
regard to their professional
standards is offensive to our
profession and rejected by the
Guild,” it added.
The reasoning behind the move,
according to the Guild is the
“overwhelmingly clear” poor public
perception, saying that current
public opinion is damaging the
reputation of community pharmacy.
“The Guild regrets any damage
done to the image of community
pharmacy and will do everything
possible to ensure the public
maintain their trust in community
pharmacists as the custodians of
medicines and the Pharmaceutical
Benefits Scheme,” the Guild said.
In addition to the Gold Cross
withdrawal, the Guild has also said
the pilot of the GuildCare prompt,
where clinical information for the
patient to consider in relation to
the Companions range would
appear during the dispensing
process, will not proceed.
Despite its withdrawal, the Guild
defended Blackmores, saying its
products are “well-established, and
marketed by one of the best known
and respected names in evidencebased
complementary medicine”,
and that these complementary
medicines are recommended by
healthcare professionals every day.
“Blackmores developed this range
of four to be available exclusively
through pharmacies so that
consumers would always obtain the
appropriate information and
advice,” the Guild said.
“There was never any compulsion
whatsoever on pharmacists to sell
these products, nor was there any
direct incentive to any pharmacist
to sell them.
“At all times, community
pharmacists would continue to be
free – and indeed expected - to
exercise their professional and
clinical judgment in relation to
these products,” the Guild added.
MEANWHILE pharmacy union
APESMA is claiming the back down
as a major victory.
In the wake of the deal, APESMA
CEO Chris Walton said pharmacists
“should continue to be wary of the
pharmacy owners’ Guild now that
their hunger for profits has been
exposed by the fiasco”.
“This is a pathetic backdown by an
out of touch organisation,” he said.
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 06 Oct 11To see the full newsletter, see the embedded issue below or CLICK HERE to download Pharmacy Daily from 06 Oct 11
