Sir, - I noted with interest Kathryn Holmquist's article (November 10th) on the new regulations confining some herbal medicines to supply on prescription only, which introduces a measure of balance into a debate that to date has been rather partisan and misinformed.
The Irish Medicines Board, in recommending that St John's Wort and other herbal produces be scheduled-only medicines, is fulfilling its function in ensuring that products used for medicinal purposes are supplied only in a manner that is in accordance with their safety, their efficacy and their quality. The Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland, which regulates the profession of pharmacy in this country, believes that for too long many so-called alternative medicines have been legally supplied without the requisite research and data to support their efficacy, their safety and their quality. In a move to address this anomalous situation the Irish Medicines Board has recently published guidelines on what constitutes a medicinal product, thereby requiring such products to be licensed as any other conventional medicine is. However, it should be borne in mind that not all herbal medicines currently available will be required to be licensed or to be supplied only on foot of a prescription.
The Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland welcomes and supports both these published guidelines and the subsequent stance and approach adopted by the Irish Medicines Board in respect of St John's Wort and other herbal medicines. The board's decisions in these matters are taken only after a complete assessment of the evidence available to it and this ensures that the safety of the public is protected at all times. The Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland shares this concern for the safety and welfare of the public and is working closely with the board to ensure that all pharmacists are informed and advised of the board's recommendations and requirements in respect of these products.
The society only hopes that the board's commendable commitment to protecting public health may also soon be extended to restricting the sale of paracetamol (Letters, November 10th) to pharmacy only, as advocated by this society. - Yours, etc.,
John Bourke, MPSI, President, Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland, Northumberland Road, Dublin 4.