ASMI welcomes the majority of the Federal Government’s decisions on the regulation of medicines Sydney, 15 September 2016 –

The Australian Self Medication Industry (ASMI) welcomed the majority of the Federal Government’s decisions regarding the regulation of medicines and medical devices.
Of all relevant recommendations to non-prescription medicines, ASMI is aligned with almost all of the government’s recommendations.
However ASMI disagrees with government’s decision to retain restrictions on the advertising of Schedule 3 (S3) medicines and to replace the current mandatory advertising pre-approvals system with a self-regulatory system.

ASMI’s Chief Executive Officer, Deon Schoombie, said:

“Industry is pleased the Federal Government will reform the scheduling framework for non-prescription medicines. The current system does not optimise consumer access to medicines or incentivise innovation and investment, and reform is long overdue.
There is an opportunity to expand consumer access to more OTC medicines, thereby improving public health and providing much needed savings to the healthcare budget in the future. “

ASMI supports the Government’s decisions on the regulation of complementary medicines.
Industry has long advocated for a risk-based approach to regulation and the Government has accepted many of the proposals industry put forward in its submissions to address the acknowledged shortcomings in the current system.
We look forward to participating in the reform process.

“We are disappointed that at this point in time the Government has taken no action to remove restrictions on the advertising of S3 medicines.
It is difficult to see the public health benefits of keeping consumers in the dark about the availability of safe and efficacious medicines, especially when pharmacists are the gatekeepers of this product schedule with mandatory counselling required prior to the sale of these medicines.”

ASMI will continue its advocacy for S3 consumer advertising reforms and will be shortly bringing to government research generated by the University of Technology’s Centre for Health Economic Research and Evaluation (CHERE) which supports the case that consumer advertising of S3’s drives better quality use of medicines outcomes (QUM) for consumers.

“ASMI also opposes the Government’s decision to replace the current mandatory advertising pre-approvals system with a self-regulatory system.
ASMI believes the mandatory pre-approval of advertisements provides a high level of consumer protection and it also provides for a level playing field for manufacturers.
There is clear and compelling evidence that the pre-approval of advertisements ensures high levels of compliance and protects consumers from non-compliant advertising. “

ASMI advocates for a complaints system that is fair, efficient, effective, transparent and applies to all advertisers and all media.
There should be one body that receives and determines complaints about advertising directed to consumers and there should be a single body to receive and determine complaints.

“ASMI looks forward to working with the Government, ASMI members and stakeholders on the reform process following the announcement of the government response to these recommendations,” he added.

Pharmacy Guild’s George Tambassis to present opportunities to leverage pharmacy to benefit health consumers at ASMI Conference Sydney
14 September 2016 –

Pharmacy Guild of Australia’s President George Tambassis will present different ways the non-prescription industry can better leverage pharmacy to enable the healthcare consumer during his plenary session at ASMI’s annual conference on Thursday 27th October.

“Australia’s 5500 community pharmacies are a vital part of the health system and provide the most accessible of all health professionals – the community pharmacist.
In an evolving market and regulatory environment, it is important that pharmacies work with the wider sector to ensure that patients always come first, and that the regulatory environment encourages excellent service and quality care,” said Mr Tambassis about his upcoming session.

Tambassis plans to outline opportunities which impact the non-prescription industry both now and in the future.
These included the current 6CPA, the progress of the MedsASSIST real time monitoring program for OTC codeine tracking, as well as thoughts on prescription-to-OTC switch and better leveraging the role of the pharmacist in the future.
He will also touch on the recent MOU signed with the China Medical Pharmaceutical Material Association (CMPMA) and what opportunities this presents for the Australian OTC/Complementary medicines industry.

“Those wanting to get a better understanding of the current state of play on critical issues impacting the sector such as codeine real time monitoring and implications of the 6CPA on the non-prescription industry should come along,” said ASMI’s Marketing & Business Development Director, Filomena Maiese.

ASMI is offering a 10 per cent discount for group booking of five or more delegates.
Register at http://www.asmi.com.au/events/asmi-events/conference-diamond-awards.aspx

ASMI 2016 CONFERENCE EVENT DETAILS:
When: 8.30am, Thursday 27 October 2016 Where: Le Montage, 38 Frazer Street, Lilyfield NSW