Drugstores skip prescription rule

Drugstore chains Matsumotokiyoshi and Lifort have been selling several medicines over the counter despite the drugs' reclassification in April 2005 to require prescriptions, the government and the two firms have revealed.

Matsumotokiyoshi Co. and Lifort Co. said Tuesday that there have been no health-related complaints but asked people who bought the drugs over the counter to stop taking them and to notify the company.

Since the drug were reclassified, Matsumotokiyoshi has sold 468 packages of eight drugs, including the antianxiety medication Atarax P, over the counter at 162 stores in 15 prefectures, company officials said.

Kobe-based Lifort sold 52 packets of six of the drugs over the counter in 19 stores in Osaka and Hyogo prefectures since the revisions, according to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry.