The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has issued a supply disruption alert for Phenytoin (Epanutin) 30mg/5ml Oral Suspension.
Pfizer have limited supplies of the drug and anticipate going out of stock in the first week of March. The anticipated re-supply date is late June 2020.
According to the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC), the Canadian brand of Phenytoin 30mg/5ml oral suspension – ‘Dilantin-30 is available as an alternative from specialist importers on an ‘unlicensed’ basis.
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, PSNC advises to issue a paper prescription as ‘Phenytoin 30mg/5ml Oral Suspension (Special Order)‘ and endorse by the pharmacy as a non-Part VIIIB special with the following:
- 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;
- SP.