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Concept
Prescription drug
Summary
A prescription drug (also prescription medication, prescription medicine or prescription-only medication) is a pharmaceutical drug that is permitted to be dispensed only to those with a medical prescription. In contrast, over-the-counter drugs can be obtained without a prescription. The reason for this difference in substance control is the potential scope of misuse, from drug abuse to practicing medicine without a license and without sufficient education. Different jurisdictions have different definitions of what constitutes a prescription drug.
In North America, , usually printed as "Rx", is used as an abbreviation of the word "prescription". It is a contraction of the Latin word "recipe" (an imperative form of "recipere") meaning "take". Prescription drugs are often dispensed together with a monograph (in Europe, a Patient Information Leaflet or PIL) that gives detailed information about the drug.
The use of prescription drugs has been increasing since the 1960s.
In Australia, the Standard for the Uniform Scheduling of Medicines and Poisons (SUSMP) governs the manufacture and supply of drugs with several categories:
Schedule 1 – Defunct Drug.
Schedule 2 – Pharmacy Medicine
Schedule 3 – Pharmacist-Only Medicine
Schedule 4 – Prescription-Only Medicine/Prescription Animal Remedy
Schedule 5 – Caution/Poison.
Schedule 6 – Poison
Schedule 7 – Dangerous Poison
Schedule 8 – Controlled Drug (Possession without authority illegal)
Schedule 9 – Prohibited Substance (Possession illegal without a license legal only for research purposes)
Schedule 10 – Controlled Poison.
Unscheduled Substances.
As in other developed countries, the person requiring a prescription drug attends the clinic of a qualified health practitioner, such as a physician, who may write the prescription for the required drug.
Many prescriptions issued by health practitioners in Australia are covered by the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, a scheme that provides subsidised prescription drugs to residents of Australia to ensure that all Australians have affordable and reliable access to a wide range of necessary medicines.
Official source
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