28/03/08
Precision work with PAGB on notifying Healthcare Professionals on
Children’s Cough & Cold Medicines Announcement.
Extract from PAGB E-Newsletter: 28th March 2008
New advice for children’s cough and
cold medicines
Following advice from the
CHM, MHRA has announced that cough and cold medicines containing
antihistamines, antitussives, expectorants and decongestants should
not be given to children under 2. This is a precautionary step as
children under 2, because of their small size, may be at greater
risk of potential harm caused by overdose.
The industry will be voluntarily
removing the doses for children under 2 years from the labels of
many cold and cough remedies, and putting additional label warnings
on products for children aged 2-6 if products do not already include
them.
There are 6 products, positioned for
young babies because of their name, pictures of babies on the pack
or a clear indication of use for under 2s, which are being moved
from open shelves to behind the pharmacy counter so pharmacists can
check that people who are buying them are going to use them for
older children.
MHRA was due to make the announcement
to the press on Thursday. However, some journalists found out about
the story the evening before and unfortunately this resulted in some
inaccurate and scaremongering stories, particularly in the Daily
Mail which put the story on its front page. Some articles wrongly
stated that products were to be ‘banned’ and that 100 medicines were
to be taken off shelves.
In an attempt to set the record
straight, MHRA issued an urgent clarification notice to highlight
that only 6 products were to be moved behind the pharmacy counter
and they could still be sold under the supervision of the pharmacist
to treat children older than 2 years.
MHRA’s press materials and
the
urgent clarification note
can be found on the MHRA website.
PAGB has been working with MHRA and
affected member companies on this issue for some months now.
PAGB also issued press materials to put
across the industry’s position and yesterday was spent responding to
journalist’s enquiries and contacting journalists who had already
covered the story to set the record straight. Sheila Kelly was also
interviewed for print and broadcast media.
Coverage today is a lot more balanced,
accurate and reassuring that there is no safety risk.
PAGB’s media materials can be found on the
PAGB website
In addition, PAGB
has arranged the distribution of a
consumer leaflet
to pharmacies. This is also available to download. Leaflets have
already been posted to independent community pharmacies and a
million copies are currently being printed to be distributed by
UniChem, Communications International Group (CIG) and Precision
Direct Marketing. UniChem will distribute to all pharmacies in the
UK and will work with Sangers to distribute in Northern Ireland. All
these organisations are doing this at minimal cost and we thank them
for their support.
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