The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) yesterday (August 6) issued a warning to pharmacists to “raise awareness of some emerging issues”, such as the supply of medicines from the UK overseas, among other things.
“We have recently had concerns raised with us by the public, medicines manufacturers, and other regulators regarding medicines supplied on private prescriptions overseas by UK pharmacies,” it said.
This has included medicines “being supplied to countries in which they are not legally allowed” and arriving in conditions “which means they are not safe for use”, it added.
Read more: Pharmacies must ‘immediately’ remove weight-loss ads, regulators warn
In an email to pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and pharmacy owners, GPhC Chief Pharmacy Officer (CPO) Roz Gittins urged staff to “think about any actions they should take to ensure patients and the public receive safe and effective care”.
She called on pharmacy teams to “undertake the relevant checks” on the “applicable laws of the country they are sending medicines to”.
And Gittins noted that packaging, transport methods and “in-transit timeliness” must be suitable to ensure that medicine “arrives in good condition and is still safe and fit for purpose”.
“Liable to misuse”
The email also warned about “the diversion of medicines from registered pharmacies, where medicines have been ordered and stolen by members of staff”.
In a separate update, the GPhC said it had recently investigated concerns about this issue, with cases involving “prescription-only-medicines (POMs) that are liable to misuse, or have high monetary value, such as medicines used for weight management”.
It set out safeguarding guidance on ordering stock and stock security, handling deliveries and staff support to “help reduce the risk of diversion” of medicines.
Read more: Weight loss: GPhC online pharmacy crackdown has ‘full’ DH support
The CPO’s email highlighted that all pharmacies supplying medicines at a distance “need to have procedures in place, and staff suitably trained, to identify different risks associated with patient addresses”.
This follows a report of an online pharmacy sending “medicines via post to a hospital” which was “addressed to an inpatient”.
Gittins also reminded pharmacy staff that weight loss injections “can’t be advertised, even where ads don’t explicitly name a medicine”, calling on “all pharmacies to make sure any adverts or promotion comply”.
GLP-1 side effects
She added that the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is “asking pharmacy staff” to make Yellow Card reports “detailing suspected side effects to GLP-1 medicines”.
Her email also touched on GPhC concerns “relating to the lack of information provided by some pharmacies when supplying oral methadone solution for the management of opioid use”.
“Pharmacies should review how information about medication (especially methadone solution) is supplied when not in the manufacturers’ original packaging,” Gittins said.
Read more: New weight loss regs: Almost 50 concerns already raised with GPhC
It comes after the GPhC, the MHRA and the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) issued a joint enforcement notice in April flagging their concerns “about the advertising of prescription-only medicines (POMs) used for weight management, including on social media”.
And a health minister revealed in June that the GPhC has the government’s “full” backing to “tackle the misuse of weight loss medications”.
