By dispensing using the ReMediZ method of the Extended Pharmacy, unused medicines can be redispensed. This furthers health, preserves the environment and reduces health care costs.
When a medicine does not work or if side effects are too severe, a course of treatment is often stopped midway.
People have a tendency to forget to take their medicines.
In hospitals and/or pharmacies leftover medicines are destroyed. At home, they are often simply thrown away or even flushed down the toilet. This results in a heavy burden on the environment and a considerable waste of money every year.
A very expensive treatment for his mother-in-law does not work. The leftover medicines go back to the pharmacy and are destroyed.
“There must be a better way to do this,” he thought. With Ed Feskens and others, he founded ReMediZ. Combining their backgrounds and their varied and complementary areas of expertise, they embark on a social mission to tackle wastage of medicines.
In the UK, approximately £215 billion is spent annually on healthcare. Of this amount, more than £9 billion is spent on the reimbursement of medicines.
There are no formalised figures on how much money is wasted on medicines in the UK, but it is estimated at roughly £300 million per year.
European and UK regulations state that medicines that have left the pharmacy must never return to the supply chain. So redispensing is only permissible if the medicines have not yet left the pharmacy.
Medicine residues in ground and surface water can pose a threat to water quality and thus a risk for the plants, animals and fish that live there.
One of the pillars of the Extended Pharmacy is the Meds Safe. The Meds Safe is a conditioning and record-keeping medicine safe. In the safe, medicines are stored under optimal conditions.
Medicines dispensed in the Meds Safe do not leave the pharmacy until the patient takes them from the Meds Safe. If all or part of the medicine is not taken out, it has not left the pharmacy and may be redispensed upon return to the pharmacy.
