Aspirin
(asked on 24th January 2024) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will bring forward legislation to regulate the sale of aspirin.
The sale of aspirin is already regulated under the Human Medicines Regulations 2012. Regulation 221 of these regulations specifies the pack sizes that can be sold without a prescription. Regulation 236 specifies the maximum amount of tablets that can be sold, currently set as 100 tablets, before it becomes a prescription only item.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) also has best practice guidance on the sale of medicines for pain relief for retailers, recommending a maximum sale of two packs. This is entirely voluntary, although it was agreed with the British Retail Consortium, and is available at the following link:
The MHRA is currently working with the British Retail Consortium to raise awareness of the guidance, why we have it in place, and how we can improve it to meet current retailing practice.