According to a research published in an issue of the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, forty percent of community pharmacists do not tell parents that they are dispensing off-label drugs to their children. Only 66 percent of the pharmacists felt that they had a responsibility to communicate about use of off-label drugs to parents.

This finding was disclosed in a research carried out by the Department of Medicine and Therapeutics at the University of Aberdeen, UK and involved 500 community pharmacists.

From News-Medical.Net:

“Community pharmacists in the UK are responsible for overseeing the supply of prescription and over-the-counter medicine for use by children and ensuring that any off-label drugs are prescribed and dispensed appropriately.

“Give their role, we feel that greater emphasis should be placed on providing them with both undergraduate and postgraduate education in off-label dispensing, together with evidence-based information and training.”

More than 60 per cent of the community pharmacists surveyed said that they had been asked by a member of the public to sell over-the-counter medicines, such as antihistamines, analgesics and steroids, for off-label use in children.

Nearly all the respondents said that they used general drug guidelines or the pack insert to decide whether to dispense the drug, rather than specialist formularies or guidelines on dispensing to children.

“Despite the wide availability of specialised resources, such as Medicine for Children, published by the Royal College of Paediatricians, only one respondent said they used them, says Dr McLay.

Co-author Dr James McLay said that community pharmacists who responded to the questionnaire were aware of the issues surrounding off-label drug distribution to children.

Tags: analgesics, antihistamines, steroids

Posted in buy steroids, Steroid Cycles, steroid nation, Steroids and Anabolic Steroids