OTC is divided into Class A OTC and Class B OTC. Class A (red) hospitals and pharmacies can sell them; Class B (green) is sold in hospitals, pharmacies, supermarkets, hotels and other places.
When buying over-the-counter drugs (OTC), you should distinguish between red and green. The OTC logo on the box is green, safe and has little adverse reaction. Red should be taken according to the doctor's advice. )
Compared with OTC, RX refers to drugs that can only be purchased with the help of a medical practitioner or a prescription from a doctor.
Because OTC drugs can be taken without the guidance of a doctor, OTC drugs are generally safe, effective, cheap and convenient. In particular, the people concerned summarized their characteristics as follows:
First, it does not need a doctor's prescription and is not used under the guidance and supervision of a doctor. (but only under the guidance of a doctor for a long time)
Second, indications are diseases that patients can judge for themselves. The medicine is effective, convenient, safe and quick to take effect.
Third, it can generally alleviate the discomfort of patients, alleviate the initial symptoms of minor illnesses or prevent their deterioration, and also alleviate the diagnosed symptoms or delay the development of symptoms.
Fourth, it contains no toxic or addictive components, is not easy to accumulate in the body, does not produce drug resistance, and has a low incidence of adverse reactions.
Five, storage under general conditions, stable quality.
6. Different users of OTC drugs have different instructions, which are easy to understand and can be used correctly under the guidance of labels and instructions.
The characteristics of over-the-counter drugs: safety, effectiveness, convenience and economy. Otc drugs have gone through many years of clinical trials before being put on the market and have been widely recognized by consumers.
At present, there are 54 OTC drugs 1 154 and 4420 traditional Chinese medicines published in China (as of July 20, 2009). All information can be found on the website of the US Food and Drug Administration:
/datasearch/face3/dir.html The following: OTC chemical instructions and OTC Chinese medicine instructions.
Over-the-counter drugs have a history of more than 60 years. It is the product of people's increasing awareness of self-care and self-medication. Now OTC has become an industry, and it should be noted that drug production has also become a field with huge profit space.
Some countries in the world have implemented over-the-counter drug management system, which must conform to China's economic development and medical reform. Western developed countries began to implement the drug classification management system in the 1970s, converting some prescription drugs into over-the-counter drugs, and encouraging individuals to bear part of medical expenses, such as using over-the-counter drugs for minor injuries and ailments.
1996, the government of China formally put forward the classified management of drugs. In the same year, the Ministry of Health took the lead and seven ministries and commissions set up OTC offices. 1998 after the establishment of the state medical supplies administration, the safety supervision department of the food and drug administration is responsible for OTC management. 1On July 22nd, 999, China officially promulgated the Administrative Measures for the Classification of Prescription Drugs and Non-prescription Drugs (Trial), and announced the first batch of national non-prescription drugs (western medicine and Chinese patent medicine). The management measures came into effect on June 65438+ 10/day, 2000.
According to the data survey, the current situation of OTC and self-treatment in the world is as follows: ① 60% ~ 95% of the diseases are initially treated by some form of self-care (or health care). ② People accounting for 60% of the world's population take/kloc-0 drugs every day, of which 57% take drugs by themselves. ③ In the United States, the number of patients treated with OTC drugs is four times that treated by doctors, and 92% of consumers are satisfied with the efficacy of OTC drugs. ④ According to the survey of Korea 199 1 year, 63% of minor faults were treated after consultation in pharmacy. People who often go to hospitals often go to pharmacies because of some minor problems. There is no difference in the trend of self-medication between the rich and the poor. The overall situation of OTC drug use: 33% in the United States, 28% in Australia, 28% in Germany, 24% in Spain, 24% in Britain, 22% in Switzerland, 265,438+0% in Mexico, 20% in Italy and 65,438+06% in Japan. The medical expenses in China are increasing year by year. Since 1978, the average annual growth rate of public medical expenses has been 20. 8%, exceeding the average annual growth rate of national economic development and fiscal revenue.
China's existing medical system has a single source of expenses, narrow coverage (less than 1/ 5 population), low degree of socialization and excessive emphasis on welfare. After the implementation of classified management, countries all over the world not only provide the public with safe, effective, reliable and convenient over-the-counter drugs, but also play an important role in reducing medical expenses, rationally utilizing limited health resources, changing public health care concepts and promoting medical care systems. [Edit this paragraph] OTC market overview OTC drugs (commonly known as OTC drugs) refer to those drugs that consumers can buy directly at pharmacies or pharmacies without a doctor's prescription. Over-the-counter drugs, converted from prescription drugs, are drugs with long-term application, confirmed efficacy, stable quality and safety for non-medical professionals.
In recent years, due to the depression of prescription drug market, many pharmaceutical companies began to turn their attention to OTC, and the OTC market in China was extremely active. In 2007, the OTC market continued to expand, the sales volume of brand OTC products generally increased, and the leading OTC brand products in all categories increased to varying degrees.
OTC drugs in China are consumer-oriented and consumer-centered, and consumers choose their own products without going through doctors. Compared with prescription drugs, OTC drugs show more characteristics of general consumer goods and respond to consumers' wishes and needs faster, so the market potential is huge. It is predicted that by 20 10, China will become one of the largest pharmaceutical markets in the world, with OTC sales accounting for 30 ~ 40% of global pharmaceutical sales, and will become the largest pharmaceutical market in the world by 2020. Faced with the huge market cake, global multinational companies such as Janssen, Squibb, SmithKline, Pfizer, etc. are ready to seize the OTC market in China, and have stepped up their R&D efforts and accelerated their layout in China.
In addition, the urban population in China is growing at a rate of about 20 million every year, and the demand of urban residents for over-the-counter drugs will promote the development of this market; The trend of population aging in China is accelerating, and the medical consumption of this group of people is increasing; The income of urban residents has increased rapidly, and the medical and health expenses have also increased rapidly; The reform of basic medical insurance system and medical system has greatly accelerated the growth of OTC market. With the comprehensive promotion of rural two-network construction, medical insurance and new rural cooperative medical system, rural drug market has gradually become a new hot spot. The OTC market in China has a bright future. [Edit this paragraph] The financial term OTC is completely different from the exchange market. There is no fixed place outside the venue, no prescribed members, no strictly controllable rules and regulations, and no prescribed trading varieties and restrictions. It is mainly that counterparties conduct one-on-one transactions through private negotiation. Over-the-counter transactions are mainly in the financial industry, especially in countries with developed financial institutions such as banks.
At present, the largest over-the-counter market is in Singapore, which not only provides various foreign exchange, index and futures transactions, but also provides investment reference indexes of Morgan Stanley Taiwan Province Province and Hongkong. Over-the-counter transactions in Europe have developed more vigorously than traditional exchanges and become the new favorite of modern investment.
The main differences between OTC and matchmaking methods are as follows: First, the credit base is different. Over-the-counter mode is based on the credit of both parties to the transaction, and both parties bear the credit risk themselves, and the transaction can only be carried out after the bilateral credit is established. In the matchmaking method, all parties take China Foreign Exchange Trading Center as their counterparties, and the trading center centrally bears the credit risk of market traders; Second, the price formation mechanism is different. The off-site method determines the price through negotiation between the two parties, and the matching method forms the transaction price through computer matching. Third, the settlement arrangements are different. The settlement of funds is arranged by both parties off-site, and China Foreign Exchange Trading Center is responsible for centralized settlement.