Downscheduling welcomed
Downscheduling of migraine treatments begins on 1 Feb The Pharmacy Guild of Australia welcomed the confirmed decision to down-schedule the migraine treatments sumatriptan and zolmitriptan to S3, or pharmacist-only, medicines. …
Rising number of issues
The numbers of medicine recalls and reported shortages increased substantially during the second half of 2019 Australian pharmacists were active in reporting medicine adverse events, and the number of medicine …
Vitamin warning
TGA issues a safety advisory on the consumption of a multivitamin component A safety advisory has been issued warning of risks association with consuming high quantities of Vitamin B6. The …
Built-in flexibility
Government moves to temporarily ease PBS authority restrictions during pandemic crisis The Australian Government is implementing a temporary measure that allows flexibility around PBS restrictions for eligible PBS medicines to …
S3 cannabidiol proposal
TGA scheduling delegate proposes pharmacist-only dispensing of low-dose cannabidiol The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) Joint scheduling committee is set to hear a delegate-initiated proposal to allow pharmacist-only supply of low …
Script substitute
Government releases details on proposed pharmacist medicine substitution process, but concerns are raised that it’s “too complex, too slow” The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has released details on the Federal …
Change on the agenda
Sildenafil, cannabidiol and ibuprofen among those to be considered for rescheduling Australia’s medicine scheduling body is to consider another request to have sildenafil (Viagra) rescheduled. The June joint meeting of …
A RUM upgrade
New-look RUM bins are arriving in pharmacies this month The Return of Unwanted and Expired Medicines project (the RUM project) has launched a new and more secure version of the …
The week in review
The news cycle this week remained focused around the COVID-19 pandemic, with concern over measures allowing pharmacists to supply medicines using digital scripts COVID-19 again remained the focus of attention …
No stress relief
Questions raised over the products many pharmacists are recommending to help patients who are suffering from stress A study has revealed a number of shortcomings in the approach many pharmacists …
The top ten
It’s been a bumper month in terms of the numbers of people reading our stories. Let’s find which were the ten most-read articles It’s a sign of the unprecedented times …
Push for more Aussie manufacturing
Government to investigate the chances for more home-grown medicines manufacturing in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic Federal industry minister Karen Andrews wants to kick off talks with pharmaceutical companies …