Shortage of montelukast?

[Cw70]

I was told last night that there’s a national shortage of Montelukast 10mg and they don’t know if/when they can get me some!

Anyone else heard this or is it just my incompetent pharmacist??

[Hidden]

I have that problem. So I am going to back to GP's regarding this.

[Kiiam]

Just went to fetch mine, and yup there is a national shortage 🙄

[Mogget]

I've just had a call from my pharmacist saying the same thing and was advised to ask my GP to change the prescription from 10mg to 5mg (and double the dose) as the 5mg version is apparently still available.

[xxggtt]

Yep - I got given 2 boxes of the branded stuff (Singulair) a couple of weeks ago - luckily! So I should be alright for the next couple of months. But they told me when they gave me the Singulair that I was getting the branded version cos supplies were short nationally, so it was a last resort for them.

[Abc64]

Not heard a thing about this. Collected mine the other day.

[Wheezycat]

My husband has had the same for the nas

[Ghoulette]

Hi. I work in pharmacy and can confirm that there are shortages with A LOT of meds, montelukast 10mg being one of the recent ones. Currently, 5mg chew tabs are still available.

[Wheezycat in reply to Ghoulette]

Is there any explanation why? I am assuming I may know, but I may be very wrong, so it would be good to have some understanding of this. My husband is on Avamys which helped him no end when he got into trouble with Beconase, so it is one that matters to us. Recently it seemed to have run out everywhere.

[Ghoulette in reply to Wheezycat]

Unfortunately, as much as I hate to bring up the B word......it is pretty much down to a mixture of Brexit, unscrupulous suppliers holding onto stock to artificially inflate prices, and manufacturers either putting huge numbers of medications on quota or not releasing any medication into the UK 😞. It is extremely challenging being in pharmacy at the moment 😞

[Wheezycat in reply to Ghoulette]

Yeah, as I thought. Thank you for saying it. It is a scandal, but certainly not caused by pharmacists. I am also dependent on medication manufactured abroad, and to be without has and does terrify me. We need pharmacists so thank you for battling on!

[Wheezycat in reply to Ghoulette]

A quick search resulted in this. As said it has already affected us, with a first, unacceptable alternative.

theguardian.com/politics/20...

[Ghoulette in reply to Wheezycat]

Unfortunately, the list of medicines that are either unavailable, subject to quota, or intermittent supply grows every day. Community pharmacies are constantly struggling to find supply of various medications. What makes it even more challenging is when patients are (understandably) angry and frustrated but take it out on the pharmacy staff 😞. We try so hard to maintain continuity of supply, but it is not always possible........but apparently it is our fault 😞.

[Wheezycat in reply to Ghoulette]

I am so sorry to hear you are blamed, but not entirely surprised. We have the most marvellous local pharmacist, and I would hate losing her. What makes me angry are any description of powerful people who have caused this to happen. People who could choose a different direction. I shall say no more as this is not the place.

[Treed12]

I heard this yesterday and have been advised to see my gp to seek an alternative

[ChloeBlossomRosie]

I collected mine yesterday and nothing was said to me.

[Trimley]

Just been prescribed this for the 1st time. No problem getting it at local chemist

[lakelover]

Had to wait a few days for mine, but it did arrive.

[Erin001]

I have the same, they have given me this time, but need note from doc/consult which I will get. If it is just a shortage of 10mg why don't they just give 5mg out I rather take 2 tablets than not have the drug.

Hopefully no other asthma meds go down the same route because otherwise their will be a queue of us in a&e because we haven't been able to get a hold of our drugs due to this shortage issue. if it gets worse, it is going to be costly in the long run because unnecessary admissions will occur if not careful which is more expensive than a drug. Fingers crossed this gets sorted, otherwise we are going to have to use our meds sparingly which is a danger. If someone can let us know what other drugs are in shortage, be good to know. x

We will look after one and other while this happens

hope everyone is okay

Erin

[WhiteFalcon2017]

Yes I have had a problem getting mine. The chap in the chemist did say there is a problem getting it.

[Catbutler]

I was prescribed this yesterday,10mg tablets. My local Boots pharmacy said they hadn't had it for weeks and didn't know when they would get any. I tried the nearest Lloyds pharmacy and they said they had plenty. Worth phoning around if your local pharmacy hasn't got any.

[StanChad]

I noticed my sons latest prescription is a different make/box. But the chemist managed to supply some.

[Barfly19]

I have spent 2hours today ringing round pharmacies after my usual chemist can’t supply them. Then when I did find one had to wait another half hour waiting for a new script by which time the pharmacy who did have them closed grrrr. So now on day 6 without them. Some one muttered in one chemist it’s due to them being stock piled and not being released.

[xfirelionx]

Have been waiting over two weeks now for my partners prescription, same story sad to say, but no fault of my pharmacist. Brexiteers will end up with much blood on their hands before this is over.

[Minushabens in reply to xfirelionx]

With respect, this can't be anything to do with Brexit; we are still EU members. Have a look at this:

drugshortagescanada.ca/shor...

The explanation given, which I've heard elsewhere is problems with the production of the drug.

[Ndesai1234]

I think it's not fair to say your pharmacist is incompetent. If you read the papers you will know that the pharmaceutical companies are withholding medicines and creating shortages, coupled with brexit and many European labs closing down. It must be driving your chemist mad trying to obtain stocks every day AND making it hard for them to do the more important jobs. I worked in a chemist as a student a few years ago on the weekends for some extra cash and the pharmacist worked so hard, on their feet all day with no lunch breaks and demanding patients!

[Snd1]

Hi, I have the montelukast and a couple of months ago I went to get my routine repeat prescription, and was told there was a shortage. As I am poorly if I don’t take my medication when I should I was told by my pharmacist I can contact the out of hour doctor for an emergency prescription, which I did and he gave me the 5mg chewables and I took 2 to get the correct dose. In the meantime I contacted my doctors to say I would need an alternative putting on my repeat. They gave me an another alternative and that was also out of stock (a knock on effect for the shortage of 10mg) They are currently no simple alternatives at the minute so my doctor is currently working on something else. If anyone takes these I would suggest getting in contact with your doctor ASAP as this is obviously a more timely process than just dropping in your repeat!