Prednisolone 1mg enteric coated shortage?

[Beesknees]

Hi everyone,

I'm a long time lurker but first time poster! I've got so much more information from this forum than I've ever had from my GP since being diagnosed with PMR in 2016, so thank you all.

The reason I'm de-lurking is because I'm having trouble getting 1mg enteric coated tablets. The pharmacy is telling me that it's a supplier issue. Is anyone else experiencing this?

I know I could switch to the non coated tablets but I'm reluctant to do that as I had issues with stomach acid early on and successfully weaned myself off the omeprazole when I switched to enteric coated.

I'm currently on 4mg daily so I'm going through quite a lot as you can't cut the enteric coated ones.

[SheffieldJane]

I was told this as well ( Yorkshire) the first sign was the expiry date being uniformly 4/22. An Irish firm has taken over the production and supply I believe and this has happened before. Someone tracked them down and highlighted the problem. It is mainly people who have to gently taper that are adversely affected. I think the supplier’s mindset is on those such as asthma sufferers who take a short term high dose and then stop. I have just been informed that my Boots pharmacy have got some Entric coated 1 mg tablets for me. I also suffer with digestive issues with the ordinary ones. I rang round pharmacies last time and eventually got some. Stockpiling is not much use with that expiry date. I hope that this is not going to be an on-going problem. Life is stressful enough. Only we seem to know the power of Img tablets. I wonder if 2.5 mg tablets are available?

[Beesknees in reply to SheffieldJane]

Thanks SheffieldJane.

Luckily I've got enough for a couple more weeks but I think I'll have to ask the GP for another prescription and try other pharmacies.

The pharmacy I usually use was able to give me 50% of the quantity prescribed and they've been trying to get more for a couple of weeks now.

The last time I had 2.5 mg was in November so don't know the current situation with them.

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer in reply to Beesknees]

From what’s been put on here, think the 2.5mg supply is okay….so maybe go down that route if possible - if only temporarily….not that it really helps with your 4mg dose.

Perhaps get 1mg uncoated ones as well and mix and match….if you can take 3.5mg enteric and 0.5mg plain for just a short while it may not cause too much of a problem - although stress you could do without.

[Beesknees in reply to DorsetLady]

I thought about doing a mix and match and it's a good idea about getting 1mg uncoated to cut. Thanks!

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer in reply to Beesknees]

Short term it shouldn’t cause any problems - especially if only the 0.5mg is uncoated and you take it with food.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

I'd suspect they aren't trying very hard!! A new batch of 1mg enteric coated was released recently - they were finishing a batch with expiry 04/22 and new batch appeared with a much longer expiry date.

It had happened before:

healthunlocked.com/pmrgcauk...

is one of the threads on it naming the relevant manufacturers when this became a thing originally. There is another thread somewhere I think but can't find it yet!

Got it!!!!!!

healthunlocked.com/pmrgcauk...

The lady who did the original footwork over a year ago did her thing again and says

"What a coincidence that you’ve brought this up again, we must be running in parallel. I had the same problem last week and ASDA pharmacy couldn’t supply me with 1mg g / r. Instead of sitting around and muttering as I often do, I got in touch with Phoenix in Ireland who took over the manufacture of 1mg gastro resistant a while ago. He told me that there should still be availability of the 1mg x 30 tablets via the wholesalers AAH and Alliance Boots. He expects stock with the expiry date of April 2022 will dry up over the next month or so. A new pack / pot of 1mg x 100 tablets will be launched next week with an expiry date of October 2023. He expects this will take a few weeks to feed through the supply chain and that retail pharmacies should be able to obtain stock by the beginning of February. I rang my pharmacy with this info and they were able to give me a supply of the April 22 expiry date the next day. Makes me wonder if perhaps the wholesalers were reluctant to issue pills with a short expiry date. Might be worth a try for anyone else having problems. Good luck"

[Beesknees in reply to PMRpro]

I think I remember a problem with the 1mg a couple of years ago, then all of a sudden the situation was resolved. Hopefully that will be the case this time.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Beesknees]

Just updated this post while you were posting - read again for the solution!

[borednow in reply to PMRpro]

Wonder Woman !!!

[Denbo51]

I have GP app and order 1mg of there I'm back on 5mg now had flair up