Key points
- From 1 February 2018, medicines that contain low-dose codeine will no longer be available without prescription in pharmacies.
- The medicines affected include codeine-containing combination analgesics, available under brand names such as Panadeine, Nurofen Plus and Mersyndol, and pharmacy generic pain relief products, and codeine-containing cough, cold and flu products, available under brand ranges such as Codral, Demazin and pharmacy generic cough, cold and flu medicines.
- Research shows that current over-the-counter low-dose (< 30 mg) codeine-containing products offer little additional pain relief when compared to similar medicines without codeine.
- There is evidence to suggest that paracetamol/ibuprofen combinations available as a single pill can be offered as an alternative to codeine-based analgesics for short-term management of pain in patients able to take NSAIDs and for whom paracetamol alone is not sufficient.
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