The national drug hotline that uncovered dangerous side effects linked to the sleeping pill Stilnox is set to shut down within weeks unless it secures federal funding.

The Adverse Medicine Events Line, which takes more calls from patients about potential harmful effects of medication than any other body, has found evidence of safety problems with several drugs.

But the federal government has declined to renew funding for the hotline, despite its pilot program being hailed as a success and the existence of similar bodies in the United States and Britain.

Dr Geraldine Moses, who runs the hotline, said its closure meant consumers would be less likely to report adverse reactions to drugs.

The manufacturers of Stilnox had to upgrade warnings about mixing the drug with alcohol following more than 500 complaints to the hotline, including reports of sleepwalking, crashing cars, falling off balconies, smoking, painting and having sex after popping a pill.

Dr Moses said an “overwhelming” number of calls led to the finding that muscle pain was a much more common symptom than previously thought among people taking anti-cholesterol drugs.

The hotline also helped identify the prevalence of adverse reactions to some complementary medicines, she said.

Dr Moses said consumers were able to report problems direct to regulator the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), but most people didn’t know the process.

Doctors passed on to authorities fewer than one per cent of complaints, she said.

“What will be missing if the helpline closes, which it may, is that the consumer voice will go back to being just a squeak, because the average person on the street doesn’t report when things go wrong with their medicine,” Dr Moses said.

The government funded the hotline’s pilot program from 2003 to 2006, and the Pharmacy Guild of Australia stepped in with $150,000 to keep it running for a year while it sought money to continue.

Dr Moses has made a submission to Health Minister Tony Abbott’s office and been told the department was looking at further funding.

“They’ve left us hanging,” she said.

“We couldn’t understand why even though it was positively evaluated they wanted to close it down.”

The service will begin taking fewer calls from Saturday, June 30, before winding down completely.

Labor MP Kate Ellis called on the federal government to fund the hotline, saying its closure would be a mistake.

The Pharmacy Guild of Australia said it was confident further financial support would be found for the hotline when the interim funding it provided ran out at the end of July.

The guild said it stepped in last year as it believed the hotline to be a crucial community service.

“It has since proven its worth, highlighting the bizarre effects of Stilnox,” a guild spokeswoman said.

“The guild believes the AME line plays a vital role as it’s the only consumer reporting mechanism where data can be collected on adverse reactions to medicines - particularly important when 140,000 people were hospitalised last year because of adverse medicine events.”

“The guild, as a non-profit organisation, is not in a position to keep the funding going but has had discussions with the health minister’s office and Department of Health and Ageing and is confident that funding support will be found, possibly through agencies such as the TGA or National Prescribing Service.”

The federal health department has confirmed it is considering funding the service, but has not yet made a decision.

“The funding from the Pharmacy Guild continues until the 31st July and in the meantime the Department of Health and Ageing will be exploring options for continued funding into the future, ensuring that there is no disruption to consumer service,” a department spokeswoman said.

© 2007 AAP