Fed: Pharmacists hope fat pill ad ban will be reversed

AAP General News (Australia)
04-23-2007
Fed: Pharmacists hope fat pill ad ban will be reversed

By Tamara McLean, National Medical Writer

SYDNEY, April 23 AAP - Banning ads for the controversial weight-loss pill Xenical will
drive more obese Australians to drastic surgery and dubious fat-stripping potions, pharmacists
say.

The Pharmacy Guild hopes to overturn a decision that bars drug company Roche from marketing
its anti-obesity pill direct to the public.

A federal health committee voted in February to ban the ads, which controversially
screened during the television program Australian Idol, on the grounds that pharmacists
were being pressured to dispense the product.

A campaign by consumer watchdog Choice also has claimed that teenagers as young as
16 were requesting Xenical, which has been available over the counter since last year.

The ban will not be signed off until June and in the meantime the guild is urging its
members to fight it.

"Pharmacists stand up to consumers every day, that's part of our job. So to imply we're
weak and can be bullied into dispensing this drug is insulting," said the guild's national
president Kos Sclavos.

The guild did not usually support direct-to-consumer advertising of pharmaceuticals,
but Mr Sclavos said Xenical had proven itself as an exception, with strong results and
few side-effects.

"We live in a society where obesity is a huge problem and, unfortunately, most people
think the first option is lap band surgery and miracle tea leaf cures," he said.

"Taking Xenical out of the public eye will only make this worse."

Choice, which led the initial attack on Xenical advertisements, claimed the ads had
inspired more teenagers to request the product.

But the guild says this is incorrect and most young people could not afford the $120-a-month
price anyway.

Roche is expected to make a submission against the decision, along with the Australian
Self-Medication Industry which is "hopeful" it will be reversed.

Choice also will make a further submission to say the unprecedented marketing endangers
vulnerable consumers.

The National Drugs and Poisons Schedule Committee, which is tasked with making the
decision, has a history of changing its mind.

AAP tam/evt/cdh

KEYWORD: XENICAL

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