17 November 2014 – The Australian Self Medication Industry (ASMI) is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year at the ASMI 2014 Annual Conference and a gala dinner tomorrow.

ASMI Executive Director Dr Deon Schoombie said: “Over the last 40 years ASMI has become the voice of Australia’s non-prescription medicines industry, significantly influencing medicines policy and regulation.

“Whether embracing self and co-regulation, championing QUM or placing self care on the national agenda, ASMI has always taken a broader view in order to become an organisation aligned with the National Medicines Policy.

“Over the past four decades ASMI has made a meaningful difference to the industry, locally and internationally, and more importantly, to the lives of Australians.

“As ASMI looks ahead to the future with excitement and a sense of expectation.

“There is a mood for change in Canberra driven by the Federal Government’s de-regulation agenda, the unsustainable health budget and the search for cost savings. To capture this moment in time we will pursue a regulatory reform agenda and work with other organisations and industry bodies to develop the Self Care Alliance into an independent multi-stakeholder think tank,” Dr Schoombie added.

ASMI’s achievements during its first 40 years are many and are celebrated in a book written by former ASMI Executive Director, Juliet Seifert: ‘Milestones. How ASMI became the voice of Australia’s self-medication industry.’ This can be downloaded from the website here.

Some of ASMI’s key accomplishments during the last 40 years as outlined in the book are:

– Participation in the development of the National Medicines Policy

– Introduction of tamper evident packaging

– Development of Crisis Management Guidelines

– Introduction of performance-based labelling

– Placing self care on the national agenda

– Partnering with Macquarie University to build the evidence base around self care and non-prescription products

– Partnered with NPS Medicinewise to develop guidelines to promote quality use of medicines in supermarkets

– S3 advertising allowed for ingredients listed in Appendix H of the Standard for Uniform Scheduling of Drugs and Poisons

– Successfully negotiated GST exempt status for S2 and other unscheduled products

– Inclusion of complementary healthcare products into the National Medicines Policy

– Partnering with Life Education to educate kids about QUM

– Led the rapid industry response to the Pan Pharmaceuticals recall crisis.

For more information or to arrange a media interview, please contact: Marie Kelly-Davies PR Manager, Australian Self Medication Industry (ASMI) M:0408 256 381 E: marie@asmi.com.au