FACTORS INFLUENCING PHARMACISTS PREFERENCE FOR THE LEGAL CLASSIFICATION OF RX-TO-OTC SWITCHED DRUG PRODUCTS

The United States is one of the few developed countries that has only two legal classifications of drug products, prescription (or legend) a nd non-prescription. U.S. pharmacy associations, however, are lobbying for legislation that will classify drugs which are switched from pres cription to non-prescription (Rx-to-OTC) status as a third class of ph armacist-legend or pharmacy-only drug products. Pharmacists have indic ated that their demand for a third class of drugs is to enable safer u se of switched drug products by consumers through pharmacist supervisi on. Critics of the third class concept, however, have attributed the p harmacists' demand to a desire to gain economic control of the product s. In order to assess empirically pharmacists' motivations, data colle cted from 389 randomly selected U.S. pharmacists, forming part of a la rger study, were used to assess: (i) pharmacists' preferences for five selected conditions of sale for drug products switched from prescript ion to non-prescription status and (ii) the role of selected demograph ic and practice characteristics on pharmacists' preferences. Analyses of the data indicated that 'permanent pharmacist supervised sale (or a third class status)' and 'general unsupervised' sale were pharmacists ' most and least preferred conditions of sale for switched products, r espectively. Overall, pharmacists preferred conditions of sale that in volved pharmacist supervision over those that did not. Pharmacists' pr eferences differed significantly when compared on the basis of their e mployment status. Owner or partner pharmacists indicated a greater pre ference for the pharmacist-supervised third class status for switched drug products and a lesser preference for unsupervised sale of switche d drug products than staff, employee, director, or manager pharmacists . Pharmacists' preferences for the conditions of sale also differed by the nature of the professional association in which they were members . Pharmacists who were members of the American Society of Hospital Pha rmacists (ASHP) indicated a greater preference for 'unsupervised sale after initial diagnosis and prescription from a physician', than pharm acists who were not members of the association. Pharmacists who were m embers of the National Association of Retail Druggists (NARD) viewed u nsupervised sale of switched products with greater disfavour than the non-members of that association. Overall, it appears that some pharmac ists may be governed by safety concerns and some by economic concerns in their demand for a third class or pharmacy-only status for Rx-to-OT C switched drug products.