PAGB, the consumer healthcare association, represents the manufacturers of branded OTC medicines, self-care medical devices and food supplements in the UK.
These are medicines, including traditional herbal remedies, self-care medical devices and food supplements that can be sold at pharmacies, or retail outlets such as supermarkets and convenience stores, without a prescription.
Established in 1919, PAGB has a long and distinguished track record as the industry self-regulatory body ensuring balanced and responsible marketing of self-care products.
This includes checking our member companies’ advertising to ensure it is responsible and not misleading, maintaining a fair and positive regulatory environment that encourages product innovation, and promoting the contribution that self-medication can make to people’s health at no cost to the NHS.
PAGB will empower self-care by being the expert voice of the consumer healthcare industry.
We will do this through self-regulation and ensuring best practice in our industry and by shaping our environment by engaging with stakeholders on key policy issues.
This work will be underpinned by ensuring we offer an excellent service to our members in all that we do, that we build and support a high performing and engaged team and we continue to ensure that we have good governance and maintain our strong financial position.
In advertising, we will deliver a high quality, consistent service and develop the copy clearance process to offer more flexibility to members. We will work to create a level playing field for the industry by developing and implementing a system to challenge non-compliance, and linked to our new programme of work on digital we will ensure advertising and selling in a digital environment is defined and optimised.
Our new digital workstream will cover five areas: e-commerce, advertising and social media, apps, patient information and digital self-care. This is a major new area of work for PAGB and one which opens exciting opportunities for the industry.
Our self-care activity will build on the Self-Care White Paper, published in March 2019, which outlines how self-care can support the delivery of the NHS Long Term Plan if appropriate policies are implemented. We will continue to call for a national strategy for self-care which includes the following priority asks:
The introduction of ‘recommendation prescriptions’ to support GPs in referring people with self-treatable conditions to their pharmacy for advice and treatment
Pharmacists to have the ability to ‘write’ to people’s medical records to record advice and treatments provided
Pharmacists to be able to refer people with more complex or serious conditions to other healthcare professionals, fast tracked if necessary.
As the UK consumer healthcare industry continues to experience the impact of uncertainty around EU Exit, our work on international relations will build on our activity over the last three years to support member companies to prepare for EU Exit. Our aim continues to be to secure ongoing regulatory alignment with the EU and a smooth transition to any new arrangements. We will engage with Government on future trade negotiations and regulatory frameworks with the EU and the rest of the world and seek to ensure the views of the consumer healthcare industry are reflected in these discussions.
For more information on PAGB’s strategy, please contact PAGB Chief Executive Officer, Michelle Riddalls: michelle.riddalls@pagb.co.uk
Photography (Christina, Laura and Farhana) by Lisa Bretherick
PAGB represents companies that together account for two thirds of the UK consumer healthcare market
2022 was another significant year for the UK’s over-the-counter medicines sector.
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