The founder and CEO of Maxwellia Anna Maxwell told an event in London to mark 40 years of medicines reclassification yesterday that switching medicines “has the power to create a seismic shift” from the management of symptoms to the prevention and self-treatment of chronic illness but insisted “visionaries” were needed in the regulatory process to turn that into reality.

Maxwell (pictured) said the reclassification of medicines from prescription-only to pharmacy and general sales list was entering “a pivotal moment” and expressed her hope for “greater transparency and openness between regulators and manufacturers” in giving patients better access to treatments.

“We need visionaries steering the regulatory process who understand both the patient need and increasing self-care competency as well as important commercial imperatives and we look forward to these new conversations,” she said.

The Proprietary Association of Great Britain used the event to announce the launch of the Reclassification Alliance, which will see its member companies, pharmacy bodies, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and the Department of Health and Social Care work together to identify medicines that could be reclassified from POM to P as well as look at medicines that might be reclassified as GSL.

Maxwell said the Alliance heralded “a renewed enthusiasm for and recognition of the transformative value of reclassified medicines to empower individuals to self-care and reduce costs for the NHS in the long-term.”

She also challenged the government and healthcare industry to be “forward-thinking and continue to identify new opportunities to unlock effective medicines to use OTC.”

“These medicines can be an early intervention mechanism to keep more people out of primary care. Areas such as women’s health where chronic conditions could be managed much more effectively through pharmacy providing greater wellbeing and wider societal benefits,” she said.

“There are drugs with proven efficacy and safety profiles that no longer need to be restricted to prescription only and can safely be made available off the shelf, at an affordable price, with clear instructions for use, that can be quickly and conveniently supplied by a pharmacist.”

Insisting Maxwellia has “a robust unmet need pipeline” with “a number of new applications gearing up for assessment by the MHRA,” Maxwell added: “We see switching as the platinum standard for innovation across the global OTC industry, which is why our lean, agile business model is dedicated to medicines switching.”