Journal of Public Health Advance Access originally published online on February 15, 2008
Journal of Public Health 2008 30(2):209; doi:10.1093/pubmed/fdn006
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Correspondence |
Response to ‘Returned medicines: waste or a wasted opportunity?’
Beth Annear
Kate Sinclair, Intercalated B. Sc. medical students
School of Medicine, Cardiff University, UK
Iain J. Robbé, Clinical Senior Lecturer
School of Medicine, Cardiff University, UK
E-mail: annearbm{at}cardiff.ac.uk
The study by Mackridge and Marriott1 addresses an important Public Health issue regarding the possible use of unused medicines. The authors can be congratulated for their investigation of this under-studied topic in the UK, in which there appears to be extensive waste occurring with unused medicines.
However, we suggest that there are two particular notes of caution that should be highlighted. First, the sample study represented the population characteristics of the UK regarding age and sex but due to the location of the study, a larger proportion of ethnic minority individuals, about 20%, were involved compared to that in the UK population, 7.9% in 2001.2 This limits the generalizability of the results to the UK, a point that was not raised in the paper.
Secondly, we consider that the potential financial benefits to be gained by reusing returned medicines should be more thoroughly investigated before such optimistic conclusions may be drawn. Of the £75 million of potential value from returned medicines, the study identifies 
25%, about £18 million, that could be reused. However, the costs of additional protection for medicines and stability testing of returned medicines would reduce this figure.
As their study occurred in the absence of extra publicity or promotions to encourage the return of unused medicines, the authors appropriately identify that there is scope for more returned medicines to be of a suitable standard for reuse. This study is therefore an excellent initiating tool for further research that could assess the likely impact of increased publicity. Future research could investigate in detail the reasons for the return of medicines including gathering age-specific data to further direct this effort.
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References |
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 TOP References |
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- Mackridge AJ, Marriott JF. Returned medicines: waste or a wasted opportunity? J Public Health (2007) 29(3):258–62.[CrossRef]
- Office for National Statistics. Population Size: 7.9% from a minority ethnic group. Census (2001) April.
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