A health ministry advisory panel plans to urge the government to place sharp limits on the scope of nonprescription drugs to be sold by convenience stores and other retailers that do not employ pharmacists, including cold and allergy medicines.
Under the proposal, such retailers would remain barred from selling most cold medicines, antipyretics and allergy drugs now available at pharmacies. The restriction was proposed at a meeting of a panel of experts at the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, sources said.
They said the panel is concerned that removing the ban on the sale of most nonprescription drugs at retailers without pharmacists would increase the number of cases in which consumers suffer side effects.