FDA bares shortage of Pharmacists

Manila, Philippines --- The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) expressed concern that the Philippines lacks pharmacists, a problem it says hampers access of Filipinos to safe and affordable essential medicines.The FDA said there are 32,443 retail drug outlets in the country but there are only 20,000 registered pharmacists.

All drug outlets are required to be under the supervision of registered pharmacists, as mandated by Republic Act 5921 or The Pharmacy Law.

“The figure does not include 625 retail outlets for non-prescription drugs and 332 Chinese drugstores, 302 drug manufacturers, 45 medical device manufacturers, 412 drug traders, and 6,044 drug distributors, which also require the presence of pharmacists when open for business,” according to an advisory signed by FDA Director General Kenneth Hartigan-Go.

The FDA said it is concerned over the recent statement of the Philippine Pharmacists Association (PPhA) and the Drugstores Association of the Philippines (DAP) warning the public about drugstores that employ “ghost pharmacists,” or absentee registered pharmacists employed by unscrupulous drugstores.

PPhA Executive Vice President Dr. Yolanda Robles said that in the Camanava (Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas, and Valenzuela) area, for example, 70 percent of drugstore owners have no pharmacists.

The FDA said “it has initiated a series of activities to address ‘ghost pharmacists’ and acute shortage of dedicated community pharmacists that have severely affected the DOH delivery of public health goods and services and health outcomes.”

It said the lack of licensed pharmacists became evident when the DOH launched the Botika ng Barangay project in early 2000.

“The FDA faces the challenge, if not the dilemma, of ensuring all Filipinos have access to essential medicines down to the farthest barangay of the country with Section 27 of the Pharmacy Law and other rules and regulations, still in effect,” Go said.

The FDA said the Pharmacy Law’s provision of requiring a licensed pharmacist for every drugstore “may be a contributory factor that limits, if not hampers, the growth and expansion of the drug retails industry given the shortage in community pharmacists.”

In order to address this, “the FDA has taken steps to review the Pharmacy Law and its rules and regulations implemented by the FDA,” Go said.

Last October, the FDA told Health Secretary Enrique Ona “that there are existing legislations that may prevent full access to essential medicines and health products in the regions.”

“FDA will undertake several consultations with stakeholders, including the legislators and the civil society, to help find the balance and the solution that would best serve the interest of the public,” Go said.

The FDA is advising consumers to buy medicine from legitimate drug outlets. It warned drugstore owners to observe the provisions of Administrative Order No. 56, or the regulation that covers the licensing of drug establishments and outlets.

source: mb.com.ph

Older adults overlook prescription warning labels, study suggests

Reading the fine print on prescription drug warning labels can be hard enough. But a new study suggests that many people, especially older ones, don’t notice these advisories at all. Colored warning stickers, which pharmacists often slap on pill vials in addition to the standard white pharmacy labels, highlight key safety instructions, such as “Avoid smoking while taking this drug” or “Do not drive while taking this medication.” The study findings suggest that the design and placement of these labels needs an overhaul to better prevent patients from making possibly harmful medication errors.

Notably, 17 participants over the age of 50 were much less likely to notice the warning labels than 15 participants who were ages 20 to 29. Younger adults scanned pill vials more actively, while the older ones fixed their gaze in a more stationary fashion, and often missed the warnings. These results hold particular significance because older adults often take more medications than younger ones, putting them at greater risk of making mistakes.

The research team included packaging experts and a psychologist from Michigan State University and a statistician from Kansas State University. The researchers presented study subjects with five prescription bags, each containing a single vial bearing a warning label with a unique message and color. “You have just been delivered prescription medications from the pharmacy,” they instructed patients. “Please do as you would normally do. Feel free to examine the vials as you please.”

Study subjects wore headsets with eye-tracking software that allowed researchers to record where they directed their gazes. The scientists recorded how often participants’ eyes passed over three regions of the vial: the white pharmacy label, the warning label, and the vial cap. Then the researchers presented the subjects with 10 warning labels, five which were identical to the ones they had seen, and others with different colors but the same text. The subjects were asked to recall which labels adorned the pill vials they received.

While all study subjects noticed the standard white pharmacy labels, the separate warning labels drew much less attention. Only half of the 32 subjects noticed all five warning stickers, and 22% did not notice any of the warnings at all. These results greatly differed by age: less than a third of the older adults spotted all five warnings, while nearly three-quarters of the young adults did the same. Older subjects were also less likely to recognize the warning labels after the fact, primarily because they hadn’t seen them in the first place. When older adults actually noticed the labels, they recalled them just as well as younger ones.

There are currently no federal regulations or standards that dictate how warning labels should look or what they should say. The study authors recommend redesigning labels in a way that will attract attention, especially for older adults. The color of the label doesn’t matter, their study found. However, all participants know to look at the large white pharmacy labels, so perhaps warnings should feature prominently in that space, rather than a separate location where they are overlooked.

source: latimes.com