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Regulatory, safety and economic considerations of over-the-counter medicines in the Indian population

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Over-the-counter (OTC) medication has been an integral component of an established health care system but their easy accessibility might pose significant risks. This review has attempted to highlight the present scenario of OTC utilization in India, regarding standa...

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Autores principales: Narang, Prashant, Garg, Vandana, Sharma, Atul
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer International Publishing 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10201516/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37251102
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s44250-023-00032-y
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author Narang, Prashant
Garg, Vandana
Sharma, Atul
author_facet Narang, Prashant
Garg, Vandana
Sharma, Atul
author_sort Narang, Prashant
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Over-the-counter (OTC) medication has been an integral component of an established health care system but their easy accessibility might pose significant risks. This review has attempted to highlight the present scenario of OTC utilization in India, regarding standard practices followed globally. An attempt has also been made to highlight the lifecycle of a prescription and OTC medicine and the benefits and regulatory process involved in the prescription-to-OTC switch. FINDINGS: A paradigm shift has been observed in self-medication practice with OTC medicines in recent times and has become a widespread practice worldwide. Numerous key drivers, such as increasing consumer awareness, broader consumer access to essential medication, and socio-economic benefits to the public health care system, have advocated this practice. On the other hand, self-medication using OTC is also inextricably linked with inevitable risks such as excessive drug dosage, polypharmacy, drug abuse, and drug interactions. Nevertheless, these issues could be further regulated by employing a defined OTC framework. The government of India has recognized the utmost need to develop a robust policy framework for the effective utilization of OTC drugs. Also, various initiatives toward modifying existing laws or developing new OTC drug policies has been taken. CONCLUSION: Prioritizing the utmost safety of the consumers and evident need of strong regulatory framework with respect to OTC drugs, the term “OTC” has been recommended as a distinct category of drugs by Government of India. This review has highlighted various factors that can play an essential role in OTC utilization and can be considered during policy reformation.
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spelling pubmed-102015162023-05-23 Regulatory, safety and economic considerations of over-the-counter medicines in the Indian population Narang, Prashant Garg, Vandana Sharma, Atul Discov Health Syst Review BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Over-the-counter (OTC) medication has been an integral component of an established health care system but their easy accessibility might pose significant risks. This review has attempted to highlight the present scenario of OTC utilization in India, regarding standard practices followed globally. An attempt has also been made to highlight the lifecycle of a prescription and OTC medicine and the benefits and regulatory process involved in the prescription-to-OTC switch. FINDINGS: A paradigm shift has been observed in self-medication practice with OTC medicines in recent times and has become a widespread practice worldwide. Numerous key drivers, such as increasing consumer awareness, broader consumer access to essential medication, and socio-economic benefits to the public health care system, have advocated this practice. On the other hand, self-medication using OTC is also inextricably linked with inevitable risks such as excessive drug dosage, polypharmacy, drug abuse, and drug interactions. Nevertheless, these issues could be further regulated by employing a defined OTC framework. The government of India has recognized the utmost need to develop a robust policy framework for the effective utilization of OTC drugs. Also, various initiatives toward modifying existing laws or developing new OTC drug policies has been taken. CONCLUSION: Prioritizing the utmost safety of the consumers and evident need of strong regulatory framework with respect to OTC drugs, the term “OTC” has been recommended as a distinct category of drugs by Government of India. This review has highlighted various factors that can play an essential role in OTC utilization and can be considered during policy reformation. Springer International Publishing 2023-05-22 2023 /pmc/articles/PMC10201516/ /pubmed/37251102 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s44250-023-00032-y Text en © The Author(s) 2023 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) .
spellingShingle Review
Narang, Prashant
Garg, Vandana
Sharma, Atul
Regulatory, safety and economic considerations of over-the-counter medicines in the Indian population
title Regulatory, safety and economic considerations of over-the-counter medicines in the Indian population
title_full Regulatory, safety and economic considerations of over-the-counter medicines in the Indian population
title_fullStr Regulatory, safety and economic considerations of over-the-counter medicines in the Indian population
title_full_unstemmed Regulatory, safety and economic considerations of over-the-counter medicines in the Indian population
title_short Regulatory, safety and economic considerations of over-the-counter medicines in the Indian population
title_sort regulatory, safety and economic considerations of over-the-counter medicines in the indian population
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10201516/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37251102
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s44250-023-00032-y
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