The Department of Health and Social Care (DH) has issued a medicine supply notification for oral contraceptive tablets of various brands.
The following oral contraceptive preparations are currently out of stock.
| Product affected | Ingredients | Anticipated Resupply Date | Management Advice |
| Dianette | Ethinylestradiol 35microgram/ Cyproterone 2mg tablets | w/c 26 April 2021 | Equivalent alternatives remain available from the following manufacturers; Strandhaven Ltd, Stragen UK Ltd and Kent Pharma. |
| Femodette | Ethinylestradiol 20microgram / Gestodene 75microgram tablets | w/c 03 May 2021 | Equivalent alternatives remain available from suppliers of the following brands: Akizza, Millinette and Sunya |
| Norgeston | Levonorgestrel 30mg tablets | w/c 19 April 2021 – w/c 31 May 2021 | No exact equivalent available in the UK market. Unlicensed imports have been sourced, lead times vary. |
| Norinyl-1 | Mestranol 50microgram / Norethisterone 1mg tablets | w/c 22 March 2021 | No exact equivalent available in the UK market. Unlicensed imports have been sourced, lead times vary. |
| Qlaira | Estradiol Valerate / Dienogest (various strengths) | w/c 25 October 2021 | No exact equivalent available in the UK market. |
| Yiznell | Ethinylestradiol/drospirenone 30microgram/3mg tablets | w/c 29 March 2021 | Equivalent alternatives with same composition remain available from suppliers of following brands: Dretine, Yacella, Ellaite and Lucette. |
| Yasmin | w/c 3 May 2021 – w/c 5 July 2021 |
Target Healthcare and Smartway Pharma have confirmed that they can source unlicensed imports of Mestranol 50 microgram / Norethisterone 1mg (Norinyl-1 equivalent) tablets.
Smartway Pharma has assured that it can source unlicensed imports of Levonorgestrel 30mg (Norgeston equivalent) tablets and Estradiol Valerate / Dienogest (Qlaira equivalent) tablets.
If there is currently no listing on dm+d for the imported product for prescribers to select using their prescribing systems an EPS prescription for unlicensed product cannot be issued.
Where a prescriber wishes to prescribe an unlicensed import, an FP10 paper prescription should be issued as ‘Required Product (Special Order)‘ and endorsed by the pharmacy as a non-Part VIIIB special.
