Widening consumer access to medicines through switching medicines to non-prescription: a six country comparison
| Autor: | Lynne Emmerton, Natalie Gauld, Linda Bryant, Stephen Buetow, Nahoko Kurosawa, Fiona Kelly |
|---|---|
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2014 |
| Předmět: |
medicine.medical_specialty
Prescription Drugs National Health Programs Geographic and National Differences in Health Care Health Care Providers Immunology Alternative medicine Public policy lcsh:Medicine Nonprescription Drugs Pharmacology Japan Medicine and Health Sciences Humans Medicine Public and Occupational Health Female Contraception Consumer Reports Best Buy Drugs Medical prescription Adverse effect lcsh:Science Access to medicines Primary Care Netherlands Health Care Policy Multidisciplinary Public economics business.industry lcsh:R Australia Biology and Life Sciences Obstetrics and Gynecology Drug Policy Vaccination and Immunization Socioeconomic Aspects of Health United Kingdom United States Health Care Contraception Health Care Reform Women's Health lcsh:Q Preventive Medicine Health care reform business Developed country Research Article New Zealand |
| Zdroj: | PLoS ONE, Vol 9, Iss 9, p e107726 (2014) PLoS ONE |
| ISSN: | 1932-6203 |
| Popis: | Background Switching or reclassifying medicines with established safety profiles from prescription to non-prescription aims to increase timely consumer access to medicines, reduce under-treatment and enhance self-management. However, risks include suboptimal therapy and adverse effects. With a long-standing government policy supporting switching or reclassifying medicines from prescription to non-prescription, the United Kingdom is believed to lead the world in switch, but evidence for this is inconclusive. Interest in switching medicines for certain long-term conditions has arisen in the United Kingdom, United States, and Europe, but such switches have been contentious. The objective of this study was then to provide a comprehensive comparison of progress in switch for medicines across six developed countries: the United States; the United Kingdom; Australia; Japan; the Netherlands; and New Zealand. Methods A list of prescription-to-non-prescription medicine switches was systematically compiled. Three measures were used to compare switch activity across the countries: “progressive” switches from 2003 to 2013 (indicating incremental consumer benefit over current non-prescription medicines); “first-in-world” switches from 2003 to 2013; and switch date comparisons for selected medicines. Results New Zealand was the most active in progressive switches from 2003 to 2013, with the United Kingdom and Japan not far behind. The United States, Australia and the Netherlands showed the least activity in this period. Few medicines for long-term conditions were switched, even in the United Kingdom and New Zealand where first-in-world switches were most likely. Switch of certain medicines took considerably longer in some countries than others. For example, a consumer in the United Kingdom could self-medicate with a non-sedating antihistamine 19 years earlier than a consumer in the United States. Conclusion Proactivity in medicines switching, most notably in New Zealand and the United Kingdom, questions missed opportunities to enhance consumers' self-management in countries such as the United States. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
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