An independent economic evaluation of proposals to reschedule over the counter (OTC) combination analgesics containing codeine shows that it could cost the federal government up to $316 million a year, while the cost of an alternative real-time monitoring system would be negligible.

The Pharmacy Guild commissioned Canberra-based applied quantitative economic analysis firm Cadence Economics to look into the costs of the proposal, due to be decided by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) Advisory Committee on Medicines Scheduling this month.