Six years after taking up residence on the supermarket shelves, paracetamol tabletssold in Swedish supermarkets will have to go back to square one, that is to say in pharmacies. “Paracetamol tablets without a prescription will no longer be sold except in pharmacies (…) from November 1, 2015,” the drug agency said in a statement. This measure is taken with a view to prevention and public health.
In Sweden, cases of poisoning in people who self-medicate have increased. Paracetamol represents the majority of these poisonings according to the Swedish health authority.
Between 2009, when paracetamol was available for sale outside pharmacies, and 2013, poisoning related to this analgesic jumped by 40%. These stores are open at later hours and no professional is specifically trained to advise consumers on medication. This would increase the risk of misuse and side effects.
Overdose of paracetamol can seriously damage the liver, causing liver damage. In France, the regular exceeding of doses of paracetamol would be the first cause of indication of liver transplant due to severe acute hepatitis, already reported in 2011 Professor Dominique Larray, hepato-gastroenterologist of the University Hospital of Montpellier, interviewed by Le Figaro.
Pharmaceutical companies outraged
The fact remains that Sweden’s decision to withdraw paracetamol drugs is not to the taste of the pharmaceutical companies that manufacture them. This is the case of the GSK laboratory (GlaxoSmithKLine) which refuses to think that the sale of the drug in supermarkets is responsible for this increase in cases of poisoning. “From the data presented, we cannot conclude that the sale in mass distribution is responsible for the increase” in poisoning, a representative of the British giant, Johanna Blom, told the Swedish news agency TT.
France is not immune to such a controversy if it one day authorizes the over-the-counter drugsin mass distribution.
>> Read also: Painkillers: how to find your way
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