'SPEED' MAKERS TO BE THWARTED BY DRUG MANUFACTURER

The manufacturers of Sudafed, one of the country's most popular cold and
sinus remedies, will change the tablets' formulation following concerns
they are being used in large-scale illicit manufacture of amphetamines for
recreational use such as speed.

"We're trying to make [amphetamine] extraction somewhat more difficult than
now," said the director of business development at Warner Lambert Consumer
Healthcare, Mr Derek Tye. "We'd hope [to change the formulation] in the
next few months."

Mr Tye said the company had tightened its manufacturing and transportation
security, after a batch of Sudafed went missing en route to a Brisbane
wholesaler some weeks ago. But it could not control security after the
tablets - based on the stimulant pseudoephedrine - reached wholesalers or
retail pharmacies. "We have to assume there's an adequate amount of
supervision there," he said.

The wholesale value of pseudoephedrine-based remedies is about $12 million
a year - 80 per cent of which is Sudafed - and the retail value of the
drugs is estimated to be at least double that.

There have been "a large number of reports" of Sudafed going astray in the
first half of this year, said a spokesman for the NSW branch of the
Pharmacy Guild of Australia, Mr John Mullins. He said one larger than usual
order went missing after being dispatched from a warehouse to a public
hospital. As well, a pharmacy employee ordered a large batch which was not
received by the employer, and there had been several organised thefts of
Sudafed from pharmacies.

Mr Mullins said the Pharmacy Board recommended larger packs of Sudafed
should be stored in the shop's secure dispensary, while smaller packs
should be sold over the counter only by the supervising pharmacist.

According to a March report from the Australian Bureau of Criminal
Intelligence, illegal manufacturers were prepared to pay twice the retail
value of the drug, and there was evidence the underground industry was
becoming more highly organised. "Instances have been reported of fake
companies being registered in an apparent effort to buy precursor chemicals
legally to facilitate the illegal manufacture of amphetamines."

The information manager of the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre,
Mr Paul Dillon, said he welcomed Warner Lambert's initiative which would
prevent amphetamine manufacture by both large and small operators. "A
criminal element is definitely involved - there's a lot of evidence to
suggest that," he said.

A spokesman for the NSW Health Department said it "welcomes any initiative
... ensuring medications are used in the best way for their intended
therapeutic purpose".