Over the past week or so we have had quite a few enquiries from people reporting that they cannot get Zentiva hydroxychloroquine from their pharmacy. A few have reported that their pharmacist said it was discontinued.
Our CEO, Paul Howard, has today spoken with Zentiva. They currently have 62,000 packs in stock and have been supplying the main wholesalers (Alliance, Phoenix, AAH etc.) with weekly orders. They have no manufacturing or supply issues and the product is not being discontinued.
If you are told the medication is unavailable by their your pharmacist, we would recommend that you ask the pharmacist to call Zentiva Customer Services on 0844 8793 188. Zentiva Customer Services will be able to confirm when their supplier is due to receive a re-stock.
Did you notice if it was one particular chemist alleging it was discontinued? Boots has a very poor record with enteric coated pred - they can't be bothered to source it!
I have to have Zentiva and have found many times in the past that it's hard to get hold of. I have a local independent pharmacy who agreed to source it for me but only after my GP practice insisted upon that brand on my repeat prescriptions.
I wonder whether these pharmacies take what's available brand wise, possibly at the best price being offered? I have never found Boots to be particularly helpful I'm afraid.
Thanks for this very interesting and helpful post Alida. Please pass on my thanks to Paul too.
I think it must depend on individual pharmacists because we’ve been told by. Few that they can’t request Zentiva and just have to take. Whatever Hydroxychloroquine is sent to them. YET our Boots in Dumfries manages to get it for me once explained that other brands cause gastric problems. They are the only pharmacist to make the effort. But I think it is down to the paharmacist herself who is eager to help and to please.
Thanks Alida. Sorry about the full stops in the wrong places in my first message.🙄 This auto-correct is a pest.
Yes, we feel very lucky we finally found the Boots pharmacist who, although further away from our GP surgery than 3 other pharmacies, is worth going to because she is so willing to help. It just shows it is possible to obtain the Zentiva brand, and sometimes I have to wait a few days for her to order it in for my repeat but she does, and it is marked on my notes that I’ve to get Zentiva only. I suffered terrible gastric problems before this on the Bristol brand and was sent for an endoscopy which revealed gastritis with no evident cause. Since changing to Zentiva (which I discovered on this forum) I’ve had no further problems. Fingers crossed she doesn’t transfer to another branch. 🤞
Just wanted to say that I had problems with hydroxy and the different brands. I have got my GP to write on my prescription that I should have ZENTIVA BRAND ONLY. That way I always get (well 95% of the time) the right brand and the pharmacy can claim the extra cost, as it is more expensive to buy. If your prescription just says hydroxychloroquine they can give you any brand and as Zentiva costs more and it isn't insisted on on your script, the pharmacy get the lower payment. I basically had to get a GP appointment to explain this to a GP and tell them that the side effects of the other brands meant I couldn't leave the house.....so they understood. I explained that people with Lupus do tend to have more allergies and sensitivities.
I now check the bag before I leave the surgery, as I also learnt that once you leave the building and see there's a mistake, when you take the wrong brand back they have to dispose of the pack. But if I am still on the GP surgery premises and realise I've got the wrong brand, they can re-use the pack.
Hi Wendy. Yes, we check our bags of prescriptions before leaving the pharmacy too for the reasons you’ve given. However our GP, despite being aware of the effects other brands of Hydroxy has on me, refuses to write ‘Zentiva only’ on prescriptions saying they are not permitted to do that. I know others, like yourself, have said their GP does write ‘Zentiva only’ on their script, but perhaps it is different in different regions. 🤷🏼♀️ However, our Boots pharmacy has written it on my notes and hubby often phones before going to collect the script to ask them to check that they have put in Zentiva and no other brand. It works quite well.
Thanks for all you suggestions and advice as always.👍🏻 I hope you are keeping as well as can be at present Wendy. Take care.
Thanks for following this up. I got in touch with Zentiva and they told me the same thing so I've passed the info. On to Boots and I'm waiting to hear from them
Thank you for looking into this, Alida...it helps to feel that we are not on our own trying to find out what is going on....
I have had problems getting the Zentiva hydroxychloroquine brand from my Boots pharmacy for the past two months, after having found them very consistantly helpful for the past 4 years (I have Zentiva written on my prescription). I rang Zentiva last month and they assured me it wasn't discontinued and gave the same advice about the chemist ringing CS. This month I confirmed with my Boots pharmacist that there was no chance of getting it again as it says 'discontinued' on their computer. They informed me they use one wholesaler centrally, so cannot ring round others to find it. I then rang a local Well Pharmacy who said they cannot get it, but we established they likely use the same wholesaler as Boots. There has been some changes in the relationship between Alliance and Boots in the past year as far as I can see, so that might be relevant, despite Zentiva saying that they supply Alliance.
Lloyds Pharmacy at Sainsburys is trying to get me some for next time after having a box on their shelves last month. They have had no notice of it being discontinued from their supplier, although they did add that they can't always request a particular brand of Hydroxychloroquine. Therefore my guess is that the particular wholesaler who supplies Boots, and one or two other chains, have discontinued supplying it internally... but it is worth ringing round your local independent pharmacies and the smaller chains who may be able to source from more than one wholesaler.
It may be worth checking if the pharmacy reimbursement price from the NHS when Zentiva is written on the prescription has kept pace...this could possibly explain why a large chain/wholesaler might decide to discontinue a brand... for economic reasons...just a thought?
thank you I am going to show my pharmacist your comment on Hydroxychloroquine
I had problems with boots in the past but it was to do with who they had an account with
My Doctor writes it must be Zentiva brand
I noticed after only a few days of taking them that I stopped bumping into things dropping things and falling, I am frightened to come off them as I felt so awful before thank you for your help
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