All medicines containing codeine will only be given via prescription from November, Medsafe has confirmed.
Currently these products are available over-the-counter at pharmacies, and codeine-only medicines are already prescription-only.
Common medicines that contain codeine mixed with other painkillers include Nurofen Plus, Panadeine and some Codral cold and flu products.
Medsafe group manager Chris James confirmed on Wednesday all medicines containing codeine will only be available via prescriptions in New Zealand.
"Medsafe has worked with industry and other stakeholders on this change. The new classification will be gazetted on November 5, 2020 and take immediate effect, all codeine and codeine-containing combination products will only be able to be supplied with a prescription. Codeine-only products are already prescription medicines."
He added further information will soon be published on Medsafe's website.
The recommendation to make codeine-containing medicines prescription-only was made at the Medicines Classification Committee meeting in October 2019.
The committee said at the time there was an "unmet need" for people to access pain relief in pharmacies, especially for people where non-steroidal anti-inflammatories weren't appropriate.
It discussed whether codeine is required to satisfy this unmet need for pain relief, but it decided this need will stay unfulfilled by not making any changes.
Australia introduced similar rules in 2018 to try and lower the high usage rate of codeine. This is because codeine is an opioid analgesic and people can become dependent on it, Medsafe says.
