By Antonio Bradley A controversial proposal to ban over-the-counter codeine sales has struck delays, with officials confirming the drug will remain S3 until at least 2017. The Federal Department of Health announced on Thursday it would push back its decision on whether to restrict access to the drug until June, after being flooded by submissions. […]
By Antonio Bradley
A controversial proposal to ban over-the-counter codeine sales has struck delays, with officials confirming the drug will remain S3 until at least 2017.
The Federal Department of Health announced on Thursday it would push back its decision on whether to restrict access to the drug until June, after being flooded by submissions.
If it does decide to reschedule the drug to S4, the decision would not take effect until 2017, it confirmed.
“The deferral of a decision will allow the submissions and the subsequent information provided to be thoroughly considered,” the department announced.
Of the 127 submissions made to the department, 113 did not support reclassifying codeine-containing medications as prescription-only.
The department said it was alert to concerns from critics that upscheduling could prevent access to pain relief due to the cost associated with seeing GPs.
But the 14 submissions made in support of the proposal pointed to evidence that easy access to the medications was causing substantial harm.
The Pharmacy Guild – an outspoken critic of the proposal – came under fire last week after it claimed the change would lead to a $316 million blowout in MBS spending.
That cost would be due to an extra 8.7 million GP visits per year to access the medications, according to a Cadence Economics report, commissioned by the Guild.
Dr Evan Ackerman, deputy chairman of the RACGP National Quality Committee, said he was was sceptical of the forecast.
“Sadly, it appears the report by Cadence Economics is another shameless attempt by the Pharmacy Guild to protect a multimillion dollar income stream, rather than addressing a health problem.”
Naloxone
Meanwhile, the Federal Department of Health has also announced that pharmacists will be able to sell naloxone from February 2016.
It has approved a S3 classification for the drug that covers single-use, pre-filled syringe preparations containing less than then 400 mg/mL. Previously, there was a blanket S4 restriction on naloxone.
In its reasons for the decision, the department said naloxone was well tolerated and would save lives.
“International experience and the outcomes of a trial conducted in the Australian Capital Territory support the view that easier availability of naloxone is likely to decrease the proportion of opioid overdoses which result in death.”
