The National Association of Pharmacy Regulatory Authorities (NAPRA) has issued a directive to the provinces requesting that pharmacists not sell Natural Health Products (NHPs) without a Drug Identification Number (DIN), Natural Product Number (NPN) or Drug Identification Number for Homeopathic Medicine (DIN-HM). NAPRA did not engage in consultations with industry participants who will be adversely affected by this move.
This is a self-serving directive and is inconsistent with the spirit of Health Canada's current Compliance and Enforcement Policy for NHPs. The items currently for sale but lacking a DIN or NPN have submitted formulation and safety data and been assigned a submission number by Health Canada and will continue to be readily available in other stores. It is far from clear that in its short-sightedness, NAPRA is fully aware of the impact its move will have on suppliers of safe NHPs all across Canada.
To read the full statement go to:
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/January20...