E-DRUG: Draft Pharmaceutical Waste Disposal Doc
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Dear E-Druggers,
One topic that has been frequently discussed, but not sufficiently
addressed is the environmentally safe disposal of pharmaceutical
products. As a natural consequence of the supply chain process, from
product development through patient usage, some products will
inevitably be unused, damaged or will expire. Organizations such as
the World Health Organization (WHO) and World Bank have established
guidelines pertaining to this topic, but further action needs to be
taken.
Our first goal is to provide countries struggling with product disposal
with specific recommendations on how to properly dispose of products.
Based on WHO's Waste Management Guidelines, we have developed disposal
recommendations for each of the medicines on the WHO List of Essential
Medicines, 15th Edition. In order for these recommendations to be
useful to communities around the world, we are asking for input on
these general and specific recommendations.
The second goal is to identify weaknesses within countries at all
levels of the supply chain concerning unused, damaged or expired
pharmaceutical products. We are looking for examples of situations
occurring within specific countries or regions of where holes in the
process exist and to what extent these problems have affected health
care processes. Once compiled, this will allow us to document the
scope of the problem and identify actions that need to eventually be
taken on the national and international levels.
The document may be accessed at the following link:
http://www.layloff.net/articles/Pharmaceutical%20Product%20Disposal%20for%20Review.pdf [repair link]
Please direct all comments and questions to Megan Sheahan at
mesheahan@wisc.edu. Thank you in advance for all of your assistance.
[I am sure she will send you doc as attachment if you have a problem with downloading. Moderator]
Megan Sheahan
Supply Chain Management System, Intern
University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Pharmacy, Pharm.D. Candidate,
2009
tlayloff@aol.com