A prescription drug is a medication that is regulated by legislation to require a prescription before it can be obtained. The term is used to distinguish it from over the counter drugs which can be obtained without a prescription. Different jurisdictions have different definitions of what constitutes a prescription drug.
In England a patient visits a doctor (usually a general practitioner in the first instance) who is able to prescribe medicines. Each item on the prescription is liable to a prescription charge of £6.40 (as of April 2004). Those requiring regular prescriptions may make a saving by purchasing a pre-payment certificate which covers the cost of all prescriptions required for four months (at a cost of £33.40) or the year (at a cost of £91.80). The money is used to help fund the National Health Service. The devolved legislatures of Scotland and Wales were examining, in 2004, proposals to scrap the charge and provide free prescriptions for all.
Further reading
Jerry Avorn, Powerful Medicines: The Benefits, Risks, and Costs of Prescription Drugs, Random House (2004), hardcover, 448 pages, ISBN 0375414835
External links
Prescription Drug and Medicine Information (http://prescriptiondesk.com)
To reduce prescriptiondrug abuse, research is needed on prevention approaches, service delivery, and behavioral and pharmaco- therapies targeted to particular populations (e.g., the elderly, women, adolescents, health professionals, and those with comorbid substance abuse and mental health disorders and/or medical disorders).
Older adults may be more vulnerable to prescriptiondrug abuse because of age- related physiological changes that may influence the metabolism and response to prescriptiondrugs, greater likelihood of having undiagnosed psychiatric and medical comorbidities, and difficulties in compliance with complex multiple drug regimens that may increase the likelihood of drug interactions.
Treatment studies are needed to develop and evaluate behavioral therapies and combined behavioral and pharmaco-therapies for prescriptiondrug abuse, with particular attention to populations at highest risk (adolescents, women, patients with comorbid psychiatric and/or physical illness, the elderly, and those with a history of polydrug abuse).
A prescriptiondrug (or POM Prescription Only Medicine, in UK) is a licensed medicine that is regulated by legislation to require a prescription before it can be obtained.
Prescriptiondrugs are generally authorized by doctors, though nurse practitioners do an increasing amount of drug prescribing.
Each item on the prescription is liable to a prescription charge of £6.65 (as of April 2006), although many patients are exempt from this charge.
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