Reschedule rancour

Simone Roberts

The National Drugs and Poisons Schedule Committee (NDPSC) announced last week that non-phenothiazine sedating antihistamines for use in children under two years would be moved from Schedule 3 to Schedule 4 from September.

Outraged pharmacists say the decision is a vote of no confidence in their clinical knowledge, and undermines the S3 category and their role within it.

"The TGA obviously has no idea what we as pharmacists in Australia do, and has no respect for our clinical knowledge/expertise,  that when it comes to these products is the BEST in the land ... all health care providers considered. How does TGA view the QCPP? Obviously with scant regard!" one pharmacist wrote, in a typical entry to the industry online forum AusPharmList.

But the PSA disagreed, saying the case in fact showed the scheduling system was working.

"The scheduling system in Australia is quite different from the USA, in that we have a category (Pharmacist Only or Schedule 3) that requires professional input such as counselling when certain products are being supplied,” said PSA president, Brian Grogan.

"In the USA these products are freely available in supermarkets for self-selection.

"The Australian products that are being rescheduled to prescription-only status for children under two were contained within this category, and the existing involvement of pharmacists during supply may help explain the lack of reports of adverse events in this country," Mr Grogan said.