NZ Guild slams Abbott recall
October 13, 2010
THE voluntary withdrawal of
Abbott’s sibutramine (Reductil)
from the New Zealand market has
drawn criticism from The Pharmacy
Guild of New Zealand.
“The process is a mess, made
worse because this is not a
subsidised medicine,” said Annabel
Young, CE of the NZ Guild.
The withdrawal, now effective in
Australia, Canada, NZ, Europe and
the US, is a result of the five year
SCOUT study, whose final results
revealed that overweight and
obese patients taking sibutramine
had a higher rate of cardiovascular
events than patients who managed
their weight through diet and
exercise alone (PD Mon).
As the sixth medicine recall in
NZ this year, the event has added
fuel to the fire started by Guild
president Ian Johnson who has
taken legal action over the NZ
recall process which he argues
places the onus on pharmacists to
fix drug company’s messes’ and
work extra hours for free.
According to the Guild, the
Abbott recall has been particularly
badly handled by the drug
company, whose Reductil patients
in NZ (estimated at around 4,000-
5,000 people) mainly found out
from media yesterday morning,
before notification was sent to
pharmacists in the afternoon.
“The fax sent to pharmacies
regarding the recall process is
[also] unclear,” a statement from
the Guild said.
“All calls to Abbott from the Guild
team regarding this recall have not
been answered,” the statement added.
Speaking on behalf of the Guild
Young said that Abbott had not
been “upfront about the work
involved in the recall”.
According to Young, in addition
to the usual recall procedures the
drug company has also asked
pharmacists to provide patients
with a refund for Reductil, whether
they supplied the original medicine
or not.
“Although other recalls have
required pharmacists to supply their
time and expertise for free, this is
the first time a pharmaceutical
company has asked pharmacists to
supply cash as part of the
procedure,” she said.
“How are they able to do this
when they have no knowledge of
the original price at which the
medicine was sold to the patient?
“It is clear that Abbott can’t be
bothered to do the work themselves
and are expecting pharmacists to
manage the process with no
guidelines and for no recompense,”
she added.
In closing its comments, the Guild
said that this latest recall fiasco
highlights the need for a clear
medicine recall process to be
developed in NZ.
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