Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Pharmacists’ Perception of the Sale of Non-Clinically Proven Health Supplements in Penang, Malaysia

Mohamed A Hassali¹, Fahad Saleem¹ , Tahir M Khan², Hisham Aljadhey³, Maryam Farooqui⁴, Noman ul Haq¹

¹Discipline of Social and Administrative Pharmacy, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia; ²School of Pharmaceutical Science, Monash University, Bandar Sunway, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia; ³College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; ⁴Faculty of Pharmacy, Universiti Technology MARA, Bertam, Penang, Malaysia.

For correspondence:- Fahad Saleem Email: fahaduob@gmail.com

Received: 23 May 2012 Accepted: 9 March 2013 Published: 12 June 2013

Citation: Hassali MA, Saleem F, Khan TM, Aljadhey H, Farooqui M, Haq Nu. Pharmacists’ Perception of the Sale of Non-Clinically Proven Health Supplements in Penang, Malaysia. Trop J Pharm Res 2013; 12(3):433-438 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v12i3.24

© 2013 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: To explore community pharmacists’ perception of the sale of non-clinically proven health supplements and over-the-counter (OTC) products available in Penang, Malaysia.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey using a self-completed postal questionnaire was conducted in July 2010 among 200 community pharmacists practicing in Penang Island.

Results: Fifty six pharmacists participated in the study (response rate, 28.0 %). A total of 10.7 % respondents indicated that the sale of non-clinically proven products result in high profit. Only 25.0 % of the pharmacists believed that non-clinically proven OTC products are effective, while 35.7 % thought that it is not ethical to sell these products. A majority of the respondents (94.7 %) agreed that manufacturers’ advertisement have a huge effect on positive consumers’ behaviour towards such products. Most respondents agreed that manufacturers of these products claim that their products are effective (57.1 %) and have few or no side effects (60.7 %).

Conclusions: Pharmacists who participated in the study have mixed opinions on the efficacy and effectiveness of non-clinically proven products. There is a need for pharmacists to be well educated on the evidence-based use of these products in order to be able to offer appropriate advice to those who come to them to purchase the items.

Keywords: Perception, Health promotion, Urban poor, Health supplements