THE CONSUMER group, Choice, says it has a groundswell of consumer support in its campaign to have Xenical rescheduled as a prescription-only medication.
The National Drugs and Poisons Scheduling Committee has agreed to reconsider the drug’s S3 status and Appendix H listing at its February meeting, in order to give interested parties the opportunity to put forward submissions on the issue.
In the lead-up to the meeting, Choice has been urging consumers to write to the NDPSC urging that Xenical be banned from direct-to-consumer advertising, and rescheduled to S4. Health policy officer, Viola Korczak, said a “large number of emails” had been sent from members of the general public to the NDPSC. The Choice website carries a template email consumers can send to the committee secretary.
Choice wrote to the committee chair urging stricter controls on Xenical, after an ad for the drug appeared during the television program Australian Idol last September. They claimed the ads “send a dangerous message to vulnerable weight-obsessed girls, that popping a pill is the solution”.
Choice also claimed it has heard anecdotal evidence from pharmacists that girls as young as 13 with a BMI of less than 25 have been asking for the drug.
But Roche’s Ian Harris said Xenical meets all the guidelines for scheduling as an S3 drug and inclusion on Appendix H. He added that if people were keen to retain Xenical as a pharmacist-only product they should make a submission to the NDPSC.
“We would hope that pharmacists who support having a highly studied, evidence-based product in pharmacy and available to be communicated to pharmacy, would put forward a submission,” he said.
Submissions can be emailed to the committee at ndpsc@health.gov.au. The closing date is 24 January 2007.