Key Points
- Australia's medicine regulator has announced new restrictions for the size of paracetamol packs.
- Supermarket packs will be reduced from 20 to 16 tablets, while pharmacy packs will be cut from 100 to 50.
- Those who wish to purchase more than 100 tablets will require approval from a pharmacist.
Australians will require a pharmacist's approval to bulk-buy paracetamol from 2025, in an effort to reduce painkiller overdoses.
From February 2025, supermarket paracetamol packs will be reduced from 20 to 16 tablets, while pharmacy packs will be reduced from 100 to 50.
Those after packs of more than 100 tablets will need to look behind the counter and gain pharmacist approval before purchase. Here's why.
Why are the changes being made?
The medicines regulator reached a final decision on Wednesday after an independent report revealed 50 Australians die each year from intentional paracetamol overdose.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) said it took into account the need for some restrictions while "ensuring continued access for those who need regular relief".
Submissions from two rounds of community consultation were also taken into account.
Tin Fei Sim, senior lecturer at the Curtin Medical School and National President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia, said a multifaceted approach was needed to balance safety and access to pain treatment.
"Each year in Australia, approximately 250,000 hospital admissions are a result of medicine misadventure, of which 225 people are hospitalised and 50 people die from paracetamol overdose," Dr Fei Sim said.
"A multifaceted approach is required to ensure that patients have access to paracetamol to treat acute pain, but we must also be steadfast in our commitment to ensuring medicines are safe for all patients."
Paracetamol tablets and capsules will also need to be in blister packaging while individually wrapped powders or sachets of granules containing paracetamol will be reduced in line with packaging rules.
From 2025, those who wish to purchase more than 100 paracetamol tablets will require approval from a pharmacist. Source: AAP / David Crosling
Overdose rates are highest among adolescents and young adults and other previously flagged changes included potentially restricting minors from buying the painkiller without a prescription.
In February, the TGA found age restrictions would have a limited impact on impulsive overdoses and would "disproportionately and unjustifiably" affect access for minors who lived independently.
Ria Hopkins, a senior research officer and PhD candidate for the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre at the University of New South Wales, said it was important to ensure pain medication would still be available for those who need it.
"While limiting deaths from paracetamol poisoning is important, these medicines are commonly used to manage pain in the community, and there is a need to ensure people living with pain are not adversely affected by new restrictions," she said.
"The TGA's decision appears to have taken into consideration the need to balance limiting harms from paracetamol while still ensuring these medicines remain accessible to Australians to manage pain."
The regulator has encouraged supermarkets to restrict sales to a single pack at a time and asked consumers not to stockpile the drug before the changes come into effect.
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