Published by Computachem Services

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Alstonville. 2477
NSW Australia

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Returning from visiting country pharmacies I turned on the news to hear about the Pan Pharmaceuticals debacle. The very name gives rise to some concern (pharmaceuticals = pharmacy?). I question whether the products of this company are pharmaceuticals in the true sense of the name or are they food additives as defined by the TGA?

Sale by pharmacies of complementary "medicines" has always caused a feeling of ambivalence in me. The Hippocratic Oath is thought to state "First do no harm" (actually it states "First look after your colleagues, then do no harm to patients"), and I have been told constantly that complementary medicines do no harm, but do they actually do any good?
The breaking story about Pan is that in some cases they can do some harm so I question the ethics of pharmacy selling these products.
This ambivalent feeling was reinforced today when I heard a spokesman from Medicines Australia stating that "Complementary medicines (CM) are safe and are effective, as shown by double blind clinical trials."
Come off it, you all know as well as I that a major problem with recommending CM is the sparsity of good clinical evidence to back up your advice.
I can think of no more than half a dozen "natural remedies" that have undergone such trials and most of these showed no benefit over placebo!
Australia is world renowned for the stringency of its regulations governing the manufacture of pharmaceutical products.
We can proudly state (or could up until the Pan story broke) that we lead the world in trying to ensure safe, effective pharmaco-therapeutic products.
I always felt confident that when I sold a medicine I could do so with a clear conscience in the knowledge that the Code of Good Manufacturing Practice gave me protection.
Today I am not so sure.
Not only does it appear that Pan used untested ingredients but it seems that they also falsified records to hide this fact.
Such behaviour by a company founded by a pharmacist, with pharmacists on the board of directors, can only have a negative impact on the profession's image.
This is especially so if we, as trusted healthcare professionals, are seen to actively promote products that can now perceived as being potentially dangerous.
I am possibly old fashioned in my belief that pharmacists must always act so that they "First do no harm" but, acting with this in mind, I can rest easily at the end of the day. Is this possible when I can no longer be sure that the supposedly safe product is actually so?
I have just heard a news item where stock analysts are asking why Pan Pharmaceuticals would risk its reputation by such illegal behaviour.
Is it another case of "greed is good" in relation to profits?
We may never know the reason why but this episode again raises questions about the ethics of selling complementary medicines in pharmacies.
This generation of customer, it seems, is demanding the right of choice in medical care and what types of medicines are consumed.
That might be fair enough, but, for me, I have feelings of concern about selling these products and this becomes an ethical problem.
Do you perceive any problem?