Why down-scheduling medicines is fraught with danger

Description

Assoc Prof Mark Morgan questions whether a push to make more prescription-only medicines available over the counter is best for patients.

 

Subject

The Government has recently directed the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) to propose a new schedule for more medicines to be available over the counter.
 
While the move is ostensibly to improve access to these medicines, I – and many others – have serious questions.
 
The effect has been that the TGA has created a new group between Schedule 4 (prescription-only) and Schedule 3 (pharmacy-only) drugs, labelled Schedule 3 Appendix M (Schedule 3M). In effect, this is Schedule 3½.