Complementary crackdown

Simone Roberts

The Pharmaceutical Society of Australia's president, Brian Grogan, has spoken out in support of a new report which claims controls on supply and promotion of complementary medicines in Australia are too weak.

The study, published in the Medical Journal of Australia this month, used the example of weight loss products to compare the regulation of complementary medicines to registered pharmaceutical products. Under existing regulations, complementary medicines are listed without evaluation for efficacy, while conventional pharmaceutical products are registered after evaluation for quality, safety and efficacy.

According to the report, from 1996 to 2006 more than 1000 weight-loss products were listed on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods, most containing herbs, vitamins, and minerals of dubious efficacy. Over the same period, 10 conventional medicines were registered, each containing one evaluated ingredient of proven efficacy.

The report proposed that the listing system should be scrapped, and complementary products (including homoeopathic medicines) should be assessed for efficacy and delisted if evidence is lacking.

Mr Grogan agreed, saying complementary medicines should be assessed like conventional pharmaceutical products.

"With registered medicines, there is scientific evidence for all of those medicines. Any claims made can be backed up. I think all products dealing with the health of the individual should be of the same category."

Mr Grogan also said pharmacists needed to be wary of supporting any product making therapeutic claims that had not been scientifically evaluated.

But the Australian Self-Medication Industry (ASMI) said calls for tighter regulation of complementary and alternative medicines were not justified. Rather, better enforcement of the existing system was needed, it said.

"ASMI believes that the design of the listing system is appropriate and ASMI does not agree with the authors that it should be scrapped. However, post-market surveillance regulatory activities could be significantly enhanced through optimal resourcing and targeted auditing," said the scientific director for ASMI, Deon Schoombie.