Shortage of Peginterferon alfa2a

[Fairbank]

Just to let you know that the County Durham and Darlington NHS Trust has no stocks of the above and they are only receiving 3 Syringes per month at the moment. I take it for ET.

[Exeter21]

thanks for informing. I in same position in Exeter Devon & not sure if I get any on my return from holiday as struggled to get them before travelling . Julia 🙈

[Fairbank in reply to Exeter21]

Hope you get sorted Julia! Best regards, Margaret

[socrates_8]

Evening guys...

Seems that there is a "Global" shortage of many pharmaceuticals atm...

Please Post if anyone ever learns more about the "Whys & where fors etc..."

Muchas gracias guys...

Steve

(Sydney)

[Exeter21 in reply to socrates_8]

The pharmaceutical company producing Peg has sold out to another company. The other company will take a year to get back to our current supply levels I was told 🙈

[nellietheelephamt]

So many life necessary medications are in short supply. I've even had to take theost basic of meds into hospital due to pharmacy shortages.

[Exeter21]

many thanks Margaret. 👌

[Pachena]

this is what was shared on an MPN group. It may help -

“This the cause of the Pegasys shortage -

For some context I am Vice Chair of the MPN Advocates Network last May we held a meeting in Vienna to plan the upcoming MPN Horizons 2024 conference in Warsaw next week. As part of that meeting we toured the new Pharma& facility and I got to see first hand how Pegasys is made.

Currently, Australia has lowest global price for Pegasys. Some unethical parts of the Pharma supply chain were siphoning off medicine meant for Australian patients to sell to foreign markets to make a quick $$$ by pocketing the difference.

Why is there a problem? Roche pulled out of making Pegasys and it is now made in Austria by Pharma& (see my comments above).

Roche had stockpiled 10 years global supply when they decommissioned there Swiss facility. Before Pharma& can bring their product online the European Medicines Agency has to do 2 things firstly approve the facility to ensure quality and safety. Secondly, approve Pegasys for the treatment of MPNs. There have been delays in the accreditation process which are expected to be sorted in the near future.

To counter siphoning off of Pegasys and to ensure medicine meant for Australian patients are available for Australian patients, Echo therapeutics have been in consultation with TGA and have come up with a home delivery program which they will fully underwrite the delivery costs. They have partnered with Just Meds to provide the service which will ensure a cold chain delivery of Pegasys across Australia (urban, regional, rural & remote). Patients will only pay the current co-pay.”

[socrates_8 in reply to Pachena]

What you have just explained there Pachena... Is more or less exactly what I was reiterated to me by the CEO of the new Australian supplier "Echo Therapeutics"..

Let's all keep our metphorical fingers crossed that sanity prevails here somewhere where common greed had supplanted it etc...

Steve

[light]

Hi, thank you for your update on this shortage of Pegasys for us all. But I do want to know how long will it take for this accreditation process to be sorted? And what is the "near future"? How long that will take? Near future can mean lots of things??? Wishing you well.

[Purplechoclover in reply to light]

Hiya, ive been told where i live in the west midlands of Britain the shortage is until oct 2025 and hospitals will receive a ration supply so there will be changes to how often you take it etc and other temporary treatments audopending on your condition 😊

[william-Indo in reply to Purplechoclover]

Yes, it is true.The shortage will take at least 1 year and could be more.

[VTAR24]

With the shortage of interferon what is the alternative as I'm not long taking it and now it's worrying that ther is a shortage

[Purplechoclover in reply to VTAR24]

I'm the same here been on mine since January this year and my platelets etc are just stable and i feel in a good place but with this now a bit worried about if i have to change and the side effects from that

[Pachena]

I wrote to my haematologist re not being able to source any Pegasys here where I live in Australia. She phoned me and said she had only just heard about the shortage since she worked in the Public system as well as Private. She said there will always be a supply in the hospitals. She said that the Pegasys supply problem had not been handled well and that even the pharmacies were often not aware they would not be able to source Pegasys after 1 Sept.

She put me onto JustMeds who would fill my script and will deliver direct to my home in a refrigerated vehicle. So I wrote to them with a screenshot of my script.

They replied this morning and got me to download an app MedAdvisor that I will order through. There is also the option to contact them directly each time to order. There is no delivery fee and it will cost the same as I was paying previously so it seems all will be well with my supply 👏🏻

[Yarnhabit]

Sending best wishes as a fellow Darlingtonian, hope it is resolved soon, it must be so worrying for you.

[Fairbank in reply to Yarnhabit]

Thank you!

[Spoalllen]

We are writing a joint letter to the NHS in each of the four UK nations to request approval for another version of interferon alfa called Besremi. There is strong evidence that Besremi works as well as Pegasys for people with MPNs.

bloodcancer.org.uk/news/int...