A NEW law will come to the rescue of women who have run out of birth control pills when they are a long way from their doctor but feeling close to the man in their life.

Women caught short will be able to get resupplied by a pharmacist without needing a doctor's prescription under legislation passed by the Senate today.



The same will go for people who need anti-cholesterol drugs to keep going, but have run out of stocks, according to the National Health (Fifth Community Pharmacy Agreement) Bill.



Health Minister Tanya Plibersek said the new laws will mean “patients will not have to risk missing their medication if they're unable to see a doctor when their pills run out”.



Provisions already exist allowing chemists to dispense emergency supplies of a necessary drug, but in these cases the drugs without prescriptions do not attract the subsidy from the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, which can make them expensive.



Under this law, the two types of drug issued in an emergency will get the PBS subsidy. Other medicines might be added to the list later.



To be specific, the laws will cover oral hormonal contraceptives for systemic use in the prevention of pregnancy, and lipid modifying agents, or statins, for the treatment of high cholesterol.



Ms Plibersek said the legislation ensured there could be uninterrupted access to birth control pills and high cholesterol medication, known as statins, two of the most commonly prescribed medications in Australia.



In 2010-11, Australian cholesterol fighters filled 22 million prescriptions for statins, helped by $1.1 billion in Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) subsidies.



Plus, women gave pharmacists 590,000 prescriptions for the pill helped by $7 million in subsidies.



However, there will be conditions to the sale of the non-prescription drugs, which include:

* There will have to be an immediate and ongoing need for supply of the medicine to facilitate continuity of therapy, and the patient cannot get to a prescriber in time to get a valid prescription;

* The medicine has been previously prescribed for the person, and there has been prior clinical review by the prescriber that supports continuation of the medicine;

* The medicine is safe and appropriate for that consumer;

* The pharmacist provides written communication to the most recent prescriber advising of the supply of the medicine to the consumer within 24 hours.