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FDA To Rx Industry: Improve Quality Of Leaflets

A 50-page study finds that pharmacies too often fail to provide consumers with needed drug-safety information in the leaflets stapled to their prescriptions, Jonathan D. Rockoff reports. Many fail to specify standard doses or to warn users to stop taking medicines immediately if side effects arise. Others contain irrelevant information such as vitamin promotions or nail-care tips.

The Food and Drug Administration says that drug makers, pharmacies and companies that supply pharmacies with safety data need to do more to ensure patients get a full explanation of proper drug use as well as risks and benefits. The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy and the University of Florida's College of Pharmacy prepared the report.

Carmen Catizone, executive director of the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, says the group plans to take steps to fix the gaps. "It appears that the editing the pharmacies are doing is causing the problems," he says in the time-honored tradition of blaming it all on the editors.

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