Chain drugstore industry leaders are warning Congress that, instead of improving patient knowledge about prescription drugs, overuse of FDA patient medication guides could have the opposite effect.

In a statement to the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) expressed concern about proposals that "could lead to the unnecessary approval of MedGuides outside the scope of the FDA's original intention to require them only for a few products which pose a ‘serious or significant concern.'"

Already >1500 individual drug products must be dispensed with MedGuides. Arguing that FDA-required MedGuides may not be the most effective way to educate patients for all medications, NACDS said that these pamphlets "should remain a resource only for medications which pose a serious or significant concern."