NEWS 7
ausdoc. com. au 12 DECEMBER 2025
NEWS 7
‘ Reckless’: Pharmacists going off script
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Carmel Sparke THE RACGP is urging GPs to send examples of poor pharmacist prescribing to the Pharmacy Board of Australia as it considers allowing pharmacists across Australia to prescribe S4 and S8 drugs.
Dr Anita Munoz says GPs have already told the college about pharmacists misdiagnosing a pregnancy as a UTI and misdiagnosing ulcerative BCC as a cold sore.
“ We have seen patients who were ultimately diagnosed with syphilis or
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who turned out to be pregnant delay care because they were told that antibiotics would probably fix their UTI, which they did not have,” says the RACGP Victoria chair.
The pharmacy board is weighing up a submission, co-written by the Pharmacy Guild of Australia, for a model of pharmacists prescribing S4 and S8 drugs based on their self-determined scope of practice.
Both the college and the AMA have accused the board of shutting down doctors’ concerns over pharmacist
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prescribing at a“ tightly orchestrated” forum held in late October as part of a consultation.
This was when doctors were told to write their concerns on Post-it notes and stick them on the back wall of the venue.
The board’ s eight-week consultation period was originally scheduled for the Christmas holidays; however, it agreed to move the start date to January following pressure from medical groups.
Dr Munoz said she was concerned
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the process had made it“ hard to see the daylight” between the board and guild.
“ It is shocking that what the board has considered even extends to pharmacists prescribing S8 drugs— drugs of addiction that GPs who know a patient well think hard about prescribing,” she said.
“ If they get their wish, I feel for the pharmacist who is suddenly, in a retail environment, both the prescriber and the dispenser for drugs of addiction.
“ It is reckless.”
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Dr Anita Munoz. |
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HPV screening rates down |
Why consider LAGEVRIO for your patients 70 + who test positive for COVID-19? 1, 3
Proven
*
In MOVe-OUT, LAGEVRIO reduced the risk for hospitalisation or death vs. placebo through Day 29 by 30 %( adjusted relative risk reduction) in adult patients with mild to moderate COVID-19 9
( 95 % CI: 1 %, 51 %; 6.8 %( 48 / 709 ] vs 9.7 %( 68 / 699). Adjusted risk difference-3.0%( 95 % CI-5.9%,-0.1%), p-value not available). Based on a planned interim analysis of LAGEVRIO vs placebo: The adjusted risk difference was-6.8%( 95 % CI:-11.3%,-2.4; 7.3 %( 53 / 377) vs 14.1 %( 28 / 385); p = 0.0024).
Real-world studies, 10-14 including the local Victorian study published in 2023, 10 also support the use of LAGEVRIO in treating older vaccinated patients with mild to moderate COVID-19.
Treatment-related adverse events ≥ 1 %( MOVe-OUT, LAGEVRIO vs placebo): 3 Diarrhoea( 2 % vs 2 %), nausea( 1 % vs 1 %), dizziness( 1 % vs 1 %)
No No to reduce risk of hospitalisation or death 3, 9
known drug interactions based on limited data available 3
dose adjustments required in patients with renal and / or hepatic impairment 3
Scan to access study design for registration study 9
▼This medicine is subject to additional monitoring in Australia. This will allow quick identification of new safety information. Healthcare professionals are asked to report any suspected adverse events at www. tga. gov. au / reporting-problems.
Bella Rough PATIENTS skipping GP appointments because of cost or long wait times are dragging down cervical screening rates, an epidemiologist warns.
Age-adjusted participation in cervical screening, based on five-year intervals, has declined from 81.1 % of eligible patients in 2018-2023 to 78.1 % in 2020-2025.
The figures are based on reports from the Centre of Research Excellence in Cervical Cancer Control( C4) and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. They define participation as eligible women receiving at least one HPV screening test during a 5.5-year period.
“ Decreases in screening are always concerning because it is the front line of prevention,” said Associate Professor Megan Smith, who co-authored the C4 report.
Although women aged 25-29 had the highest 5.5-year participation rate at 80 %, about half of these women were still late to take up screening after first being invited at age 25, she said. However, rates had remained stable in areas with historically low figures— such as the NT, Tasmania and remote Australia— where about half of testing used self-collection kits.
“ It sounds like, potentially, they have been able to leverage that as a tool to make it easier and more acceptable for people to screen,” she said.
SELECTED SAFETY INFORMATION 3
INDICATION: LAGEVRIO has provisional approval for the treatment of adults with COVID-19 who do not require initiation of oxygen due to COVID-19 and who are at increased risk for hospitalisation or death. The decision to approve this indication was based on efficacy and safety data from a Phase 3 trial. Continued approval of this indication depends on additional data.
CONTRAINDICATIONS: Hypersensitivity to the active substance or any of the excipients. Hypersensitivity reactions have been reported with LAGEVRIO. If signs or symptoms of a clinically significant hypersensitivity reaction occur, immediately discontinue LAGEVRIO and initiate appropriate medications and / or supportive care.
PRECAUTIONS:
Pregnancy Category D: The use of LAGEVRIO is not recommended during pregnancy. In women of childbearing potential, health care providers should discuss the chance that they may be pregnant and consider the need for a pregnancy test.
Contraception: Advise women of childbearing potential to use effective contraception for the duration of treatment and for 4 days after the last dose of LAGEVRIO. Sexually active men with a partner of childbearing potential should use contraception during and for 3 months after treatment. Based on animal data, LAGEVRIO may cause foetal harm when administered to pregnant women.
Breastfeeding: Based on the potential for adverse reactions on the infant from LAGEVRIO, breastfeeding is not recommended during treatment and for 4 days after the last dose of LAGEVRIO.
Paediatric patients: Use in patients under the age of 18 years is not recommended.
ADVERSE REACTIONS: Common: nausea, diarrhoea, dizziness. The following have been reported in post-marketing experience: hypersensitivity, angioedema, erythema, pruritus, rash, urticaria, vomiting.
Before prescribing, please review the full Product Information available at www. msdinfo. com. au / lagevriopi or by scanning the QR code.
Copyright © 2024 Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA and its affiliates. All rights reserved. Merck Sharp & Dohme( Australia) Pty Limited. Level 1 – Building A, 26 Talavera Road, Macquarie Park NSW 2113. MSDA0152. AU-ANV-00605 v3.0. Issued November 2024.
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