Back story here.
Advertising prescription medicines direct to consumers is illegal in Australia, so one side benefit for pharmaceutical companies of having a drug reclassified from "prescription only" to "pharmacist only" or "pharmacy medicine" is that the drug can then be advertised, potentially expanding its market.
This happened to the weight loss drug Xenical (aka olistat aka "alli"), initially available only on prescription, which in 2004 was rescheduled as a "pharmacist only" drug and in 2006 given limited advertising approval.
However, this may be short-lived.
The classification of Xenical will be re-considered next week after complaints from consumer groups and the general public that it was being promoted as a weight loss solution to people for whom the drug is not recommended, including young people under 18 where the safety of Xenical has not been established.
These complaints focussed on the advertising of Xenical during television programs targeting young people. The advertisements have now been withdrawn after they were found to breach the advertising code for medicines. But not before they were seen by the estimated 1.3 million viewers of the popular Australian Idol program, including many who were aged under 18.
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