|
Dispensing
EpiPens
Pharmacy practice
Oxygen cylinders
Overseas registration
Statutory Committee
The branches
The Council
The Charter
Letters to the Editor
|
EpiPens
Problems with expiry dates
From Mr D. Reading
The Anaphylaxis Campaign is a national charity that supports people with life-threatening allergies. It has come to our notice that there are
occasional problems relating to the dispensing of the EpiPen auto-injector — a
device prescribed to people at risk of anaphylaxis.
We have discovered that some EpiPens are being distributed with an unacceptably
short period from collection at the pharmacy to the expiry date. ALK-Abello,
the company that distributes the EpiPen in the United Kingdom, affirms
that no EpiPen will leave its office with a shelf-life of less than nine
months.
We asked our members, via our June newsletter, to let us know if they
had been prescribed an EpiPen with an unacceptably short “shelf
life”. A total of 36 members responded out of a membership of 7,400.
In the worst case, the mother of a severely allergic child collected
two EpiPens in January 2003 and was alarmed to see they both expired
the following month. Another person was prescribed two EpiPens in March
2003. One had two months before expiry and the other had three months.
Four people were prescribed EpiPens with three months between collection
and expiry, five people reported a four-month period and five people
a five-month period.The rest reported expiry periods of between six and
eleven months.
It is possible that the problem occurs because EpiPens remain on the
pharmacy shelf until requested, and by then they may have a very short
shelf-life. This situation presents an understandable difficulty for
the pharmacist, who will find it impossible to judge when an EpiPen will
be requested. To order stock only when in receipt of a prescription could
endanger a patient, who would be left without their emergency treatment.
The professional standards directorate of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society
has advised that we inform our members to tell their local pharmacist
well in advance when their current EpiPen is nearing its expiry date.
This will allow the pharmacist to order the stock required in advance.
We will certainly convey this message to our members, but would point
out that our membership represents only a small proportion of EpiPen
carriers.
We would respectfully ask pharmacists to play their part and seek to
ensure that they are not providing patients with EpiPens that are approaching
their expiry dates.
David Reading
Director, Anaphylaxis Campaign
www.anaphylaxis.org.uk
|
* PDF files on PJ Online require Acrobat
Reader 4 or later.