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Drug company apologises after women are unable to get contraceptive pills

Sarah Arnott
Thursday 20 January 2011 01:00 GMT
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Thousands of women using three big-brand contraceptive pills are being turned away from pharmacies because of manufacturing problems affecting supply of the drugs.

Cerazette, Marvelon and Mercilon have been all but impossible to get hold of since October, leaving women either trekking between chemists looking for supplies, or going back to their doctor to change to an alternative.

And although Cerazette is now finally in stock again, Marvelon will not be back on the shelves for at least another week, while Mercilon will be unavailable until the end of the month.

One pharmacist at a Boots chemists in London said he has turned away "scores" of women looking for the three pills. "We've had lots of people coming in for these, particularly in the last few weeks," he said. "But we ran out months ago now and can't be absolutely certain when we'll have them in again."

The manufacturer, MSD, is blaming the shortage on supply problems caused by its takeover of rival Schering-Plough in 2009. In the meantime, the company recommends that women go back to their doctors and swap to a different pill.

But while family planning experts confirm that moving onto an alternative does not risk pregnancy, changing from one pill to another can cause adverse side effects as the body adjusts to new hormone levels, according to experts.

"Any interruption in supply is a worry for women and frustrating for healthcare professionals like pharmacists and GPs," said a spokeswoman for the Royal Pharmaceutical Society. "Women can be prescribed another pill, and they will then have contraceptive protection, but it may or may not agree with them as well as the one they are used to."

Around a quarter of all women in England using contraceptives are on the pill, with more than 2 million prescriptions issued by GPs and family planning clinics every quarter.

Of that number, as many as 290,000 are for Cerazette, another 38,000 are for Mercilon, and another 80,000 are for Marvelon – according to National Health Service data – leaving tens of thousands of women exposed to the vagaries of MSD's affected supply chain.

Cerazette users have been particularly inconvenienced. Not only is the brand the most common of the "progestogen-only" pills. It is also the only one which gives users a window of 12 hours to take their daily dose.

All the other "mini pills" have to be taken within just three hours, causing problems for women who struggle to take their pill at the same time every day.

MSD, the UK arm of the drug giant Merck, said yesterday that it regretted the problems. A spokeswoman for the company said: "MSD would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused to patients and healthcare practitioners. We are working hard to address the production interruptions as quickly as possible."

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