[e-drug] Repackaging medicines in pharmacies (5)

["Stein Lyftingsmo" <stein@lyftingsmo.no>]

E-DRUG: Repackaging medicines in pharmacies (5)
---------------------------------

UK, Croatia, Hungary and The Netherlands are the only countries in Europe that still dispense packs (count tablets or split blister packs) in pharmacies.

This not only a question of regulation. 
*It is very much a result of tradition - what is the present situation?
*It is a question of how regulation is respected. I have heard a rumour that some country in South East Asia has an excellent regulatory system that nobody follows. And there are a lot of countries where you can get prescription medicine without prescription.
*Who decides? The dispensing and splitting situation in UK and the Netherlands is a result of reimbursing authorities not willing to pay for one single extra tablet. The paying customer is the ruler. 

Repackaging of medicines is pharmaceutical production. No doubt about that. And information is an essential part of today's medicines. 
Small scale repackaging will never be able (in a cost effective way) to document the process. Traceability is usually lost when tablets are counted from bulk. And other information on the package will always be minimal.

The patient and the medicine authorities should be able to identify medicine. Small scale dispensing from bulk makes that impossible. So does cutting blisters.

Today many consumer's goods are better labelled, are better traceable, and have a better recall system than medicines. Increasingly.

I am aware that I am sitting in the very rich country, Norway, when I write this. But I am very certain about my conclusion:
>From now on, new medicine regulation should not allow medicine repackaging that is not documented, or that breaks traceability.

Stein Lyftingsmo
Hospital Pharmacy of Elverum, Norway
stein@lyftingsmo.no
www.lyftingsmo.no