The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has issued a medicine supply disruption alert for Zyban (bupropion hydrochloride) 150mg prolonged release tablets.
GlaxoSmithKline have advised that Zyban will be out of stock from week commencing June 15 until the end of November.
Unlicensed supplies of bupropion 150mg prolonged release tablets have been sourced and Champix (varenicline tartrate) tablets, which are licensed for the treatment of nicotine dependence, are available.
Various nicotine replacement therapies (NRT) are also available.
There is currently no listing on dm+d for the imported product for prescribers to select using their prescribing systems.
If a prescriber wishes to prescribe an unlicensed import, a paper prescription should be issued as ‘Buproprion 150mg prolonged release tablets (Special Order)’ and endorsed by the pharmacy as a non-Part VIIIB special.
Stanek Tablets
Stanek (levodopa/carbidopa/entacapone) tablets with various strengths are out of stock.
The supply of 25mg, 100mg25mg, and 200mg tablets is expected to restart by mid July whereas, the supply of 37.5mg, 150mg, and 200mg tablets is likely to be resumed by early August.
Salazopyrin 500mg Suppositories
There is a supply issue affecting Salazopyrin 500mg suppositories due to an increase in demand seen by the sole supplier, Pfizer.
Salazopyrin (sulfasalazine) 500mg suppositories will be out of stock until the week commencing June 1.
Limited supplies of Salofalk (mesalazine) 500mg suppositories are available.
Pentasa (mesalazine) 1g suppositories remain available.
Promazine Tablets
Promazine 25mg and 50mg tablets are out of stock. The anticipated re-supply date is mid June.
Depakote Tablets
Valproate semisodium (Depakote) 250mg tablets are out of stock until early July.
Phytomenadione
There is a supply disruption notice for Phytomenadione (Konakion MM Paediatric) 2mg, 0.2ml ampoules .
Konakion MM Paediatric is out of stock and the anticipated re-supply is expected in June.
When prescribing a product that is not licensed in the UK, the prescribers must indicate on the FP10 prescription that an unlicensed product is required.
This can be done by annotating the prescription with the wording “special order”.
There is currently no listing on dm+d for the imported product for prescribers to select using their prescribing systems.
If a prescriber wants to prescribe an unlicensed import, a paper prescription should be issued as ‘Phytomenadione 2mg/0.2ml ampoules (Special Order)‘ and endorsed by the pharmacy as a non-part VIIIB special with:
- Amount dispensed over pack size used
- Invoice price per pack size from which the order was supplied less any discount or rebate
- Manufacturers’/importers’ MHRA licence number
- Batch number of the product supplied.
