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ACCUMULATION AND DISPOSAL OF LEFTOVER MEDICATIONS: A KEY ASPECT OF PHARMECOVIGILANCE
Citation:
DAUGHTON, C. G. AND I. RUHOY. ACCUMULATION AND DISPOSAL OF LEFTOVER MEDICATIONS: A KEY ASPECT OF PHARMECOVIGILANCE. Chapter 5, S.Z. Rahman, M. Shahid, and V. Gupta (ed.), An Introduction to Environmental Pharmacology. Ibn Sina Academy, Aligarh, India, , 101-107, (2008).
Impact/Purpose:
Book chapter
Description:
In this paper, we focus on one of the aspects of pharmEcovigilance that has been receiving growing attention, especially in the U.S. — the accumulation and disposal of unwanted, leftover medications. The magnitude of drug stockpiling and accumulation, and eventual disposal of leftover drugs by consumers serves as a multidimensional measure of the effectiveness of pharmEcovigilance — the greater the magnitude and extent, the less its effectiveness; accumulation and disposal of drugs would indicate failure of a pharmEcovigilance program. It can also serve as a surrogate measure of the efficiency and efficacy of healthcare, and is a major factor in the healthcare footprint. Wastage of medications not only maximizes the ability of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) to enter the environment (with largely unknown consequences), it also directly reflect an inefficient aspect of administration of healthcare, possible non-optimal therapeutic outcomes, and the likelihood that drugs can be diverted to others for unintended purposes (leading to drug abuse and accidental poisonings).
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ACCUMULATION AND DISPOSAL OF LEFTOVER MEDICATIONS: A KEY ASPECT OF PHARMECOVIGILANCE