Drug producers to collect expired and unwanted drugs

Drugmakers must collect and dispose of expired and unwanted medicines handed in by members of the public, daily Napi Gazdaság reported. The costs will be covered by the producers and a joint organisation will co-ordinate the action which starts on Thursday. Collection will be carried out by pharmacies and the drug producers will share the costs of the scheme in proportion to the sales of their drugs, said National Association of Hungarian Pharmaceutical Producers Director László Buzás.
Eight Hungarian drugs producers and wholesalers established the company Recyclomed Kht two years ago to dispose of drug waste. It will be this company's task to collect the unwanted drugs from 2,040 pharmacies throughout Hungary, said the paper.
The company will have to recycle 300-500 tonnes of drugs each year at a cost of around Ft 200 million (EUR 800,000). It is estimated that 75 % of appointments between patients and doctors involve issuing a prescription, but patients do not use around 20 % of the drugs they buy, which means around 2,500 tonnes of drugs worth Ft 35-36 billion (EUR 140-144 million) yearly go unused, the paper noted.