Medicine Supply Notification: Co-trimoxazole 40mg/200mg/5ml oral suspension sugar free and Co-trimoxazole 80mg/400mg/5ml oral suspension – Updated
Updated 12th February 2024 – updates are shown in bold below:
Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has issued a medicine supply notification for Co-trimoxazole 40mg/200mg/5ml oral suspension sugar free and Co-trimoxazole 80mg/400mg/5ml oral suspension
MSN/2023/103U
Tier 3 – high impact
Date of issue 17th November 2023 (updated 12th February 2024)
- Co-trimoxazole 40mg/200mg/5ml oral suspension sugar free is out of stock until early July 2024.
- Co-trimoxazole 80mg/400mg/5ml oral suspension is out of stock until mid-March 2024.
- Co-trimoxazole 80mg/400mg tablets and 160mg/800mg tablets remain available and can support increased demand.
- Where this is not suitable, unlicensed supplies of co-trimoxazole oral suspension may be sourced, lead times vary.
Unlicensed products
The following specialist importers have confirmed they can source unlicensed co-trimoxazole oral suspension. Sugared and sugar-free co-trimoxazole 40mg/200mg/5ml preparations have been sourced, please confirm with importer if a particular formulation type is required. (Please note there may be other companies that can also source supplies):
If there is currently no listing on dm+d for the imported product for prescribers to select using their prescribing systems an EPS prescription for the unlicensed product cannot be issued. Where a prescriber wishes to prescribe a specially manufactured or imported product, an FP10 paper prescription should be issued as ‘Co-trimoxazole 40mg/200mg/5ml oral suspension sugar free (Special Order)’ and endorsed by the pharmacy as a non-Part VIIIB special with the following information:
- Amount dispensed over pack size used;
- Invoice price per pack size from which the order was supplied less any discount or rebate;
- Manufacturers’/importers’ MHRA licence number;
- Batch number of the product supplied;
- SP
A copy of this medicine supply notification, including further information, has been sent to all pharmacy NHS email addresses.
DHSC and NHSE/I have now launched an online Medicines Supply Tool, which provides up to date information about medicine supply issues. The contents of these MSNs can now be viewed on the Tool.
The Tool also details any changes to resupply dates and updates to the entries.
To access the Tool you will need an NHS email address. Once set up and logged in, you will be able to access it online.
New shortages not listed on the SPS website, can be reported using our shortage reporting tool.
