Pharmacists: Over the counter sale of emergency contraceptive recommended by European watchdog

It is not the Chamber of Pharmacists’ responsibility to determine the status of the morning-after pill (MAP), chamber president Mary Ann Sant Fournier said, while pointing out that the European Medicines Agency last year changed its status from a prescription medicine to a non-prescription medicine.

The debate over the availability of the MAP entered a new stage when a recommendation was made to Parliament by the joint committee of the social affairs, health and family parliamentary committees, that the MAP should require a doctor’s prescription to be sold.

Gender Equality Malta are organising a protest in Valletta today at noon in opposition to the recommendation, arguing that it is insulting and unnecessary to make women have to see a doctor to get medication that is available over the counter in the majority of EU countries.

A number of NGOs as well as medical professionals have also pointed out that it is unnecessary for the MAP to require a prescription and that owing to the nature of the medication, it is essential that it is available to those who need it with as little delay as possible.

As the recommendation stands, women who need to use emergency contraception must first visit a doctor who will examine them and based on the result of this examination, will decide whether or not to prescribe emergency contraception.

When asked about the issue, Sant Fournier told MaltaToday that it is not the remit of the Chamber to classify the morning-after pill as a prescription-only medicine or an over the counter medicine and that this was the Medicines Authority’s job.

Sant Fournier did however reject claims that pharmacists were somehow not qualified to dispense the medication.

“The Chamber rejects any statements to the effect that pharmacists are not in a position to follow an appropriate pre-defined protocol and dispense the MAP as a pharmacist recommended medicine, as happens in the majority of EU states,” said Sant Fournier.

She also pointed out that pharmacists are independent health care professionals who have every right and even a responsibility to question a doctor’s prescription, not only in the context of the MAP, but also in any other situation.

“[A pharmacist] has every right to use his or her discretion on whether a prescription is to be dispensed or not. This is allowed under the Medicines Act and the Code of Ethics of the Pharmacy profession issued by the Pharmacy Council,” she said.

Shortly after the MAP debate erupted back in June, following a judicial protest filed by a group of 102 women, the chairman of the Medicines Authority, Anthony Serracino Inglott stated that the MAP was not an abortive drug and there was nothing stopping importers from applying for a licence.

Serracino Inglott had also recommended that the MAP be made available over the counter.

 “The emergency contraception pill status was evaluated centrally by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). The decision to change the status from prescription medicine to non-prescription was one taken by the EMA after careful evaluation on the safety of their use. However the decision in every country is left to the individual member state,” she said.

In November 2014, the EMA’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) recommended a change in classification status from prescription to non-prescription for one particular class of emergency contraception pill with the large majority of EU states adopting the recommendation and shifting the classification of emergency contraception pills from prescription to non-prescription.

As of this year, emergency contraception is available, over the counter in all EU states with the exception of Hungary, where it still requires a prescription.