Attitudes and Opinions Towards Regulatory Aspects of Non-prescription Medicines

Widening Consumer Access to Medicines: A Comparison of Prescription to Non-Prescription Medicine Switch in Australia and New Zealand

“…Achanta, et al . [ 12 ] interviewed 18 key opinion leaders from four countries, and used statements from another 18 key opinion leaders in considering how to improve US regulatory processes for non-prescription medicines, including switch. Whether any of their participants were switch committee members was unclear, but participant experience included medicines regulator work, academia, industry and consumer organization work.…”

“…[ 9 , 10 ] In the United Kingdom (UK), Aronson[ 11 ] suggested that a pharmacist-only schedule with safeguards would increase control compared with pharmacy-only status, and therefore enable some switches. [ 11 ] Researching key opinion leaders’ attitudes, Achanta, et al .,[ 12 ] proposed that the United States (US) would benefit from a pharmacist-controlled class of medicines, but the US Government Accountability Office disagreed. [ 8 ] Research in two countries with pharmacist-only classifications could provide insight into the effect of a pharmacist-only category on widening consumer access to medicines through switch.…”

“…No published literature investigates the TTH scheduling initiative, and other research investigating effects on switch have often focused on a limited range of factors[ 7 , 8 , 12 , 23 ] or a single medicine. [ 24 , 25 ] Trans-Tasman analysis provides a unique opportunity to understand influences on switch in similar countries over time, and reflect on international harmonization policy.…”

Medicines reclassification from a pharmaceutical industry perspective: An international qualitative study

“…However, in generally overlooking the role of industry, academic research has focused on committee decision making, and regulatory and other influences on reclassification. [30][31][32][33][34][35][36] Governments 31,33,37 and third parties [38][39][40] sometimes drive reclassifications, and pharmacy organisations may encourage government reclassification or drive reclassification themselves.…”

Why does increasing public access to medicines differ between countries? Qualitative comparison of nine countries

“…Politics contributed to variation between countries in reclassifying emergency contraception. 14 Gilbert et al 13 and Achanta et al 15 considered that pharmacy-only or pharmacist-only schedules enabled reclassification, although the US Government Accountability Office 16 disagreed. Two of these studies 13,16 compared the number of medicines available without a prescription between different countries.…”