"NOTORIOUSLY risk-averse" pharmacists are being cited for denying patients access to a morning sickness treatment, according to a key women's health medical specialist.
Dr Debra Kennedy is Director of the MotherSafe teratogen information service at Sydney's Royal Hospital for Women, and says the organisation receives calls from "hundreds of women" each year over the issue, which relates to OTC doxylamine in combination with pyridoxine.
The medications are recommended for the treatment of nausea and vomiting in pregnancy by the Society of Obstetric Medicine of Australia and New Zealand, with the combination also listed as a Category A medicine meaning it is safe for use during pregnancy, according to a report in Australian Doctor.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration's Category A classification means it is among "drugs which have been taken by a large number of pregnant women...without any proven increase in the frequency of malformations".
Kennedy told the publication that incorrect interpretation by pharmacists means "pregnant women are potentially being denied an important treatment on really spurious grounds.
"We sometimes tell patients to lie to their pharmacist and say their partner needs the medication for sleep," the specialist said.
She raised the matter in a letter to the Medical Journal of Australia (MJA), noting that the confusion arising from notes on the packaging which states "do not use in pregnancy".
"Despite raising our concerns with the TGA over the confusing labelling, we are yet to see any progress in correcting this significant misinformation among health professionals and patients," Kennedy wrote to the MJA.
In the meantime she urged GPs to reassure pregnant women doxylamine is safe in pregnancy.
The specialist also urged the TGA to change the way its existing pregnancy database is alphabetically organised, and "move to a similar system to that of the US Food and Drug Administration which requires all packaging and medicines information to include consistent, evidence-based information".
Kennedy said the current system is "not very nuanced and it's often misinterpreted".
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