The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) yesterday reiterated its determination to facilitate easy access to drugs to further promote responsible self-medication, which it said could save people time waiting in hospitals and clinics, and considerable National Health Insurance (NHI) spending.
“As of this month, the government has issued licenses for a total of more than 26,000 drugs, of which only 7,261 are non-prescription medications — which are required to be used under the guidance of either a physician or pharmacist — and 435 are over-the-counter drugs,” FDA division of medicinal products director Liu Li-ling (劉麗玲) told a press conference in Taipei yesterday morning.
Liu said that non-prescription drugs account for just 6 percent of the nation’s overall drug sales, compared with 20 percent in more developed countries.
As part of its efforts to increase accessibility to essential drugs, Liu said the administration plans to switch as many prescription medications to non-prescription ones as possible this year.
“For the moment, we have approved the reclassification of prescription medications containing 13 kinds of ingredients, including painkillers, anti-allergy agents and gastrointestinal drugs,” Liu said. “The reclassification process is expected to be complete in June.”
Citing US research, Division of Medicinal Products section head Lien Heng-jung (連恆榮) said it is estimated that for every US$1 spent on over-the-counter drugs, the healthcare system saves about US$6 in costs.
“While non-prescription and over-the-counter drugs are not necessarily cheaper than the NT$200 average cost of a hospital visit, responsible self-medication can make the nation’s healthcare system more financially stable in the long run and in turn reduce the possibility of another NHI premium increase,” Lien said.
Lien said the policy is to be supplemented with several measures, such as making instructions for use of non-prescription drugs more comprehensible to the general public; listing an internship at a community pharmacy as a graduation requirement for pharmacology students; and incorporating self-medication information in textbooks for elementary and junior-high school students.
Another policy designed to improve access to drugs is set to take effect in March at the earliest, allowing licensed pharmaceutical companies to sell online type-B over-the-counter medicines, which can be sold in general stores, Lien said.
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