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    Widening Consumer Access to Medicines through Switching Medicines to Non-Prescription: A Six Country Comparison

    200875_133106_Emmerton_Plos_One_Sept__published_.pdf (214.2Kb)
    Access Status
    Open access
    Authors
    Gauld, N.
    Kelly, F.
    Kurosawa, N.
    Bryant, L.
    Emmerton, Lynne
    Buetow, S.
    Date
    2014
    Type
    Journal Article
    
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Citation
    Gauld, N. and Kelly, F. and Kurosawa, N. and Bryant, L. and Emmerton, L. and Buetow, S. 2014. Widening Consumer Access to Medicines through Switching Medicines to Non-Prescription: A Six Country Comparison. PLoS ONE. 9 (9): pp. 1-7.
    Source Title
    PLoS ONE
    DOI
    10.1371/journal.pone.0107726
    ISSN
    1932-6203
    School
    School of Pharmacy
    Remarks

    This article is published under the Open Access publishing model and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Please refer to the licence to obtain terms for any further reuse or distribution of this work

    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/43220
    Collection
    • Curtin Research Publications
    Abstract

    Background: Switching or reclassifying medicines with established safety profiles from prescription to non-prescription aims to increase timely consumer access to medicines, reduce under-treatment and enhance self-management. However, risks include suboptimal therapy and adverse effects. With a long-standing government policy supporting switching or reclassifying medicines from prescription to non-prescription, the United Kingdom is believed to lead the world in switch, but evidence for this is inconclusive. Interest in switching medicines for certain long-term conditions has arisen in the United Kingdom, United States, and Europe, but such switches have been contentious. The objective of this study was then to provide a comprehensive comparison of progress in switch for medicines across six developed countries: the United States; the United Kingdom; Australia; Japan; the Netherlands; and New Zealand. Methods: A list of prescription-to-non-prescription medicine switches was systematically compiled. Three measures were used to compare switch activity across the countries: ‘‘progressive’’ switches from 2003 to 2013 (indicating incremental consumer benefit over current non-prescription medicines); ‘‘first-in-world’’ switches from 2003 to 2013; and switch date comparisons for selected medicines.Results: New Zealand was the most active in progressive switches from 2003 to 2013, with the United Kingdom and Japan not far behind. The United States, Australia and the Netherlands showed the least activity in this period. Few medicines for long-term conditions were switched, even in the United Kingdom and New Zealand where first-in-world switches were most likely. Switch of certain medicines took considerably longer in some countries than others. For example, a consumer in the United Kingdom could self-medicate with a non-sedating antihistamine 19 years earlier than a consumer in the United States. Conclusion: Proactivity in medicines switching, most notably in New Zealand and the United Kingdom, questions missed opportunities to enhance consumers’ self-management in countries such as the United States.

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    • Medicines reclassification from a pharmaceutical industry perspective: An international qualitative study
      Gauld, N.; Kelly, F.; Emmerton, Lynne; Kurosawa, N.; Bryant, L.; Buetow, S. (2018)
      Background: Widening access to medicines through reclassification (‘switching’) of medicines from prescription to non-prescription is an international trend generally welcomed by community pharmacists. Research has focused ...
    • Innovations From 'Down-Under': A Focus on Prescription to Non-Prescription Medicine Reclassification in New Zealand and Australia
      Gauld, N.; Kelly, F.; Emmerton, Lynne; Bryant, L.; Buetows, S. (2012)
      Background: Australia and New Zealand (NZ) contribute to the international trend of medicines reclassification from prescription to non-prescription availability (switch). Both countries have been acknowledged as being ...
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      Background: Despite similarities in health systems and Trans-Tasman Harmonization of medicines scheduling, New Zealand is more active than Australia in 'switching' (reclassifying) medicines from prescription to non-prescription. ...
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