Editorial
Welcome to the December 2009 edition of i2p - Information to Pharmacists E-Magazine.
When i2P first began in February 2000, it was decided that a fortnightly publication might prove to be the optimum publishing cycle.
This thought was soon dispelled as it was found that having sufficient content to maintain this cycle became a problem.
Oh for those quieter times!
The cycle then became monthly and has been maintained up to now.
The problem is now coping with the volume of news and opinion that is generated on a daily basis.
Very much the reverse of the year 2000 - a statement for our time and how the pace of pharmacy life has increased.
Columns
Rollo Manning: Pharma-Goss
Loretta Marron BSc: Health Watch
Barry Urquhart: Marketing Focus
Harvey Mackay: Strategic ThinkingRecent Comments
Past Editions
Volume 1 Number 1
Volume 1 Number 2
Volume 1 Number 3
Volume 1 Number 4
Volume 1 Number 5
Volume 1 Number 6
Volume 1 Number 7
Volume 2 Number 1
Volume 2 Number 2
Volume 2 Number 3
Volume 2 Number 4
Volume 2 Number 5
Volume 2 Number 6
Volume 2 Number 7
Volume 2 Number 8
Volume 2 Number 9
Volume 2 Number 10
Volume 2 Number 11
Volume 3 Number 1
Volume 3 Number 2
Volume 3 Number 3
Volume 3 Number 4
Volume 3 Number 5
Volume 3 Number 6
Volume 3 Number 7
Volume 3 Number 8
Volume 3 Number 9
Volume 3 Number 10
Volume 3 Number 11
Volume 4 Number 1
Volume 4 Number 2
Volume 4 Number 3
Volume 4 Number 4
Volume 4 Number 5
Volume 4 Number 6
Volume 4 Number 7
Volume 4 Number 8
Volume 4 Number 9
Volume 4 Number 10
Volume 4 Number 11
Volume 5 Number 1
Volume 5 Number 2
Volume 5 Number 3
Volume 5 Number 4
Pharma News
Staff Writer: Should patents apply to the natural world?Hospital News
Mark Neuenschwander: I’ve been thinking about Roy Rogers, meaningful use, and wet cement. | open full screen
Health Politics
James Ellerson: For some pharmacists the truth will be ‘inconvenient’. WHY is it so?? | open full screen
Dr David More: An Insider's Comment on NEHTA's Performance
Heidi Mahon: What are we doing to ourselves?Climate Change
EPublications
ASMI Media Releases for November 2009
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PDF version | Bob Bowden |
Information and news from the Australian Self Medication Industry provided by Bob Bowden, Foresight Communications. Contact him on (02) 9241 2811 or 0412 753 298.He is supported by Filomena Maiese (ASMI Marketing & Business Development Director) and Michelle Sollitt-Davis (ASMI PR Manager). | |
The Australian Self-Medication Industry (ASMI) is the peak industry body for the Australian self care industry representing consumer healthcare products including over-the-counter medicines and complementary medicines.
ASMI’s mission is to promote better health through responsible self-care.
This means ensuring that safe and effective self-care products are readily available to all Australians at a reasonable cost.
ASMI works to encourage responsible use by consumers and an increasing role for cost-effective self-medication products as part of the broad national health strategy. www.asmi.com.au
12 November 2009
At the ASMI annual conference in Sydney today there were two special presentations at the gala dinner attended by Parliamentary Secretary for Health, Mark Butler.
ASMI President Ralf Dahmen was presented with Honorary Life Membership.
Executive Director, Juliet Seifert was honored for her 20 years at the helm of ASMI.
12 November 2009
National awards recognise innovation in healthcare promotion
Awards for Australia’s most innovative healthcare products, promotions and self care initiatives were announced at the Australian Self-Medication Industry (ASMI) Conference in Sydney today.
The 2009 ASMI Awards were presented by the Parliamentary Secretary for Health, the Hon Mark Butler MP, and reflect achievement in product innovation and promotion in the consumer healthcare products sector.
The judging of the awards takes into account the application of Quality Use of Medicines (QUM) principles, which underpin Australia’s National Medicines Policy, and which emphasise the appropriate, safe and effective use of medications including all forms of information and labeling.
The Executive Director of ASMI, Juliet Seifert, said the winners had displayed innovation and creativity, and represent an industry dedicated to the promotion of safe and effective products to consumers.
“Congratulations to all the participants in this year’s awards. It is a highly competitive market, and it is important that consumers are provided with clear and effective messages about products that can improve health and wellbeing. The winners are all fine examples of how a brands’ communications campaign can help to build health literacy and enable consumers to exercise greater personal responsibility in managing their own health,” Ms Seifert said.
The awards were judged by a panel made up of experts including a pharmacist, an advertising executive, a trade media editor and a representative from leading consumer organisation, Choice.
Awards were made in six categories:
• Best launch of a consumer healthcare product
• Best advertising/promotional campaign (including relaunch) for an existing consumer healthcare product
• Best self care program
• Best sales force initiative – grocery and/or pharmacy
• Best PR initiative
• Industry Pulse excellence in service and sales initiative 2009
#1...Best launch of a consumer healthcare product
Winner: Johnson & Johnson Pacific, Listerine Total Care
The Listerine Total Care launch focused on the product’s ability to target the six signs of a healthy mouth and was promoted as the most advanced and complete Listerine. The launch was built on the back of other long running Listerine campaigns and achieved an enormous amount of awareness and market value in just four months.
2/... Best advertising/promotional campaign (including relaunch) for an existing consumer healthcare product
Winner: Bayer Healthcare, Canesten – ‘Multi-cultured Foot’ Campaign
Canesten provides a range of specially tailored products for the treatment of thrush and other skin fungal infections such as tinea, ringworm, nappy rash, athlete’s foot and jock itch. The winning campaign used innovative marketing tools to increase market share despite the product already being on the market.
#3/...Best self care program
Winner: Nycomed, Somac: ‘Make Heartburn History’ campaign
The winner’s campaign not only educated pharmacists and pharmacy assistants about the product, but also ran a disease awareness campaign to tell consumers that there is now an effective treatment available over the counter. More than 3000 in-store training sessions were conducted and more than 500 pharmacists attended the pharmacist educational evenings.
#4/...Best sales force initiative – grocery and/or pharmacy
Winner: Reckitt Benckiser, ‘2009 Pharmacy Winter Sell-in Kit’
This award was introduced to reflect ‘best in class’ initiative by a sales team. The winner educated pharmacy assistants about the features and benefits of Strepsils, Strepfen and LemSip and promoted recall of the advertising campaign at the point of purchase.
#5/...Best PR initiative
Winner: Reckitt Benckiser/Edelman, ‘Manage Pain – effectively, safely, responsibly (codeine education program)’
The winner engaged in a responsible campaign to prevent the abuse of codeine combination analgesics and adhered to the principles of the Quality Use of Medicines guidelines by increasing understanding towards the appropriate use of over-the-counter medicines. The campaign was based around an effective alliance with organisations including the Pharmacy Guild of Australia and the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia.
#6/...Industry Pulse excellence in services and sales initiative 2009
Gold winner – Sanofi Aventis
Silver winner – Ego
Bronze winner – Reckitt Benckiser
________________________________________________________________________
12 November 2009
Red tape burden on over-the-counter medicines inhibiting the take-up of patient self care
Australia’s system of regulating non-prescription medicines could benefit from the experience of the UK health system, which has seen a cut in red tape, more streamlined processes for industry and more timely access to medicines for the public following a shift to a more risk-based approach, the Australian Self-Medication Industry (ASMI) Conference in Sydney heard today.
Keynote international speaker, Chris Horsey, is Head of Better Regulation in the Department of Health in England, which, working with the UK medicines regulator and the pharmaceutical industry (PAGB), has implemented an internationally acclaimed program to better regulate medicines, known as the Better Regulation of Medicines Initiative (BROMI).
Working in partnership with the industry, the regulator, the Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), has taken a leading role in a risk-based approach to over-the-counter (OTC) medicines regulation.
“The outcome has been to deliver new and updated medicines to patients faster, minimise the burden on industry and free-up industry and the regulator to focus on innovation and safety,” Mr Horsey said.
“The perception of risk moves over time and as medicines move through the cycle and become OTC, the risk significantly diminishes. The level of regulatory oversight should match the level of risk as far as possible, ensuring the public are protected, at all times,” he said.
The Executive Director of the Australian Self-Medication, Juliet Seifert, said some of the initiatives implemented in the UK system should be examined in Australia, where light touch regulation is the exception rather than the rule.
“Regulatory compliance imposes a heavy cost on industry and is increasingly out of step with the direction of health policy with its focus on promoting self care and improved preventative health.
“Increasing access to proven and safe non-prescription medicines also has the capacity to reduce the burden on doctors who face backlogs from the treatment of patients who present with easily treatable minor ailments,” Ms Seifert said.
The ASMI conference, titled: Self Care: How much is you responsibility?’ heard from other speakers including the Federal Minister for Health & Ageing, Nicola Roxon, the Minister for Small Business, Independent Contractors and the Service Economy, and Minister Assisting the Finance Minister on Deregulation, Dr Craig Emerson, and the Parliamentary Secretary for Health, Mark Butler.
Cavan Redmond, Group President, Pfizer Diversified Businesses, said it was time for a fundamental re-think of the regulation of over-the-counter medicines, so that products with lower risk and extended use were not subject to the same rigorous and costly assessment as higher risk medicines.
“In order to protect patient choice and avoid crippling an already overburdened healthcare system, we must refrain from viewing non-prescription medicines as prescription medicines and we must instigate a new system whereby products are evaluated according to the ‘sliding scale of risk and benefit’,” Mr Redmond said.
The US-based industry body representing the OTC sector, the Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA) noted a change in risk and perception that was characterised by recent tougher controls surrounding children’s cough and cold medicines which has recently been foreshadowed in Australia.
The President of CHPA, Dr Linda Suydam said that industry and regulators were under greater scrutiny which contributed to calls for enhanced safety in some categories of medicines, and which saw the crackdown on paediatric cough and cold products spread from the US to the UK, Canada and Australia.
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