INTERVIEW
Free access to pharmacies with aspirin, paracetamol and ibuprofen may soon be over. This is what the Medicines Agency (ANSM) wants to limit the risks associated with the misuse of these products. They would still be available without a prescription but behind the counter of the pharmacist, and no longer on the shelves.
Objective: to strengthen the pharmacist's advisory role. Gilles Bonnefond, president of the union union of pharmacists (USPO), welcomes this idea Thursday morning on Europe 1.
Strengthen the role of the pharmacist's council
The measure concerns drugs containing paracetamol (Doliprane, Efferalgan, etc.), as well as certain non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs): those based on ibuprofen (such as Nurofen or Advil) and aspirin. It could be applied as early as January 2020.
"The precautionary principle is applied: paracetamol is an effective molecule that, in case of overdose, can affect the liver Ibuprofen is the kidney if the dose is very important," explains Gilles Bonnefond. "This measure would strengthen the role of pharmacist's advice: we put these drugs behind the counter, in small quantities, 8-12 tablets not more, to avoid storage in a medicine cabinet."
Against trivialization
Against the trivialization of these drugs widely used in self-medication for pain and fever, the president of the USPO warns. "It's still drugs, with an effective activating substance, you have to pay attention to the age and the dose.The elderly, for example, have a liver or kidneys that work less well.A maximum dose can worsen the process elimination. "
"Do not put them in direct access is a good signal," admits Gilles Bonnefond. "These are not drugs that should be consumed like this but rather as part of a course of care, after advice from doctors or pharmacists." The measure makes sense according to him if the ANSM prohibits in parallel the sale of these tablets on the internet. It would be applicable from January 2020, after the end of the "adversarial procedure", a phase of consultation of 30 days with the industrialists. Patient associations and pharmacies would all support this measure.