People concerned about medication shortages are encouraged to participate in a public consultation that’s open until July 5 to provide Health Canada with feedback about this issue and to assess current approaches.
During the past five years there have been frequent drug shortages in Canada, including multiple shortages of epilepsy medications. Epilepsy Ontario wants to see mandatory drug-shortage notices posted by pharmaceutical companies to promote safety and provide extra lead time to come up with solutions. The organization is concerned that the situation will worsen in coming years.
The epilepsy community has faced shortages of clobazam, a common medication prescribed to people with seizure disorders, which were reported in January 2013 and again this past January as well as shortages of valproic acid, Dilantin, Zarontin and other epilepsy medications.
Epilepsy Ontario epilepsy information specialist Suzanne Nurse says Health Canada’s approach to this issue is a step in the right direction.
“I think it’s positive that the government is looking for feedback on how the current system is working. If it’s not working, Health Canada wants to hear about it so they can chart a path to address those problems ,” she says.
The consultation is open to anyone, but Nurse says people requiring consistent access to medication because of chronic conditions, such as epilepsy, would bring an especially important voice.
Presently, pharmaceutical companies are requested to post notices of impending or current drug shortages on the Canadian Drug Shortage Database website. Nurse says Epilepsy Ontario would like to see it made mandatory through legislation that pharmaceutical companies post information about medication shortages. In the event of the discontinuation of medications, Nurse says there needs to be significant notice given because it can take people a long time to adjust to new medications.
“For any situation where there is going to be a disruption of supply, pharmaceutical companies should provide notice as soon as they know,” Nurse says. “The problem we have at the moment is that notification on the site doesn’t seem to be happening as soon as pharmaceutical companies would be expected to be aware of the issue, and it’s often happening by the time people find out from their pharmacist that the drug is not available.”
However, mandatory notifications are not enough, she adds, noting there needs to be a full-scale strategy focused on both prevention and management of drug shortages.
Click here to participate in the Health Canada consultation.
For more information click here: https://epilepsyontario.org/anti-convulsant-drug-shortages/
Writer: Deron Hamel
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