AVAILABILITY OF OVER-THE-COUNTER DRUGS FOR ARTHRITIS IN SAO-PAULO, BRAZIL

Seventy pharmacies located in Sao Paulo were randomly selected and vis ited. Seven researchers posed as ordinary clients presenting with a st andardized complaint of symptoms according to a scenario previously de fined. The client asked for medicines to relieve his/her pain or disco mfort. After the seller's suggestion the client asked for 2 drugs rand omly selected from a drug list containing 30 trademarked drugs commonl y prescribed to arthritis patients. These drugs should be available on ly on prescription. In only 12.8% of the pharmacies did the seller ini tially suggest the client see a physician. The sellers 'prescribed' no n-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID), vitamins, analgesics (AN) a nd corticosteroids (GO) in respectively 42.8, 20.0, 14.3 and 5.7% of t he visits. From the drug list, the client secured 67.7% of the NSAID, 65.0% of the CO and 20.0% of the sedatives without presenting a prescr iption. Pharmacy sellers usually comply with the clients demands. Futu re studies should aim at the evaluation of interventions to reduce the availability of the over-the-counter drugs for arthritis.