News numbers ‘wrong’

NEWS Corp is being accused of “unethical, unfair and inaccurate” reporting in its latest community pharmacy exposé (PD 10 Aug).

Responding to criticism of pharmacies’ pricing of prescription medicines that fall below the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) co-payment, the Pharmacy Guild of Australia accused the media giant of conducting a “muddle-headed phoney investigation”.

A Guild spokesperson reported that prices listed in The Daily Telegraph’s article had said Blooms the Chemist in Orange, NSW, charged patients $28.99 for two forms of amoxicillin 500mg, however, the owner, Melanie Moses, said the pharmacy’s listed prices for the products were $9.99 and $11.95.

Another discrepancy in the News Corp reporting compared the Orange-based pharmacy’s pricing for Celfalexin 250mg 40 capsules, with other pharmacies’ prices for 20 capsules.

“What a schemozzle,” the Guild spokesperson said.

“If they are so wrong on three prices from one pharmacy, how reliable is the rest of the information in this muddle-headed phoney investigation?”

South Australian discounter, Star Pharmacy Group, also reported that News Corp had erroneously listed the price of atorvastatin at its Star Discount Chemist in Welland as being $13.99, $4 more than the pharmacy’s list price.

The Guild also noted that a reporter who called Blooms the Chemist Orange to ask about medicines prices had not inquired about the store’s amoxicillin pricing, and had failed to identify himself as a journalist or being from News Corp.

“The pharmacy is seeking a correction and an apology,” the Guild reported.