Any progress on patch shortage?

[KathyLauren]

I have been hearing reports of Estradot patch shortages for over a year.  It finally caught up to me last fall. 

 

My doctor prescribes a combination of two different sizes / doses to make up the desired dosage.  But since October, getting the smaller one has been very hit-or-miss.  The pharmacy can't get enough of the smaller size to give my my normal three-month refill, so I have had to get them a month at a time.  Neither I nor my insurance plan like that.  This month, they couldn't get the smaller size at all.

 

They were able to give me two of an intermediate size which will make up the desired dosage, which is fine as long as that size is available.

 

Has anyone heard if the shortages are expected to continue?  Are there shortages of different sizes, or is it only the smallest size that is unavailable?

 

I plan to talk to the pharmacist to find out what they can get, and then to my doctor to see about revising my prescription.

[Susan R]

45 minutes ago, KathyLauren said:

Has anyone heard if the shortages are expected to continue?  Are there shortages of different sizes, or is it only the smallest size that is unavailable?

According to my local Walmart pharmacy, the smaller patches are going to be harder to get for a while. They can no longer get the brand I need so I moved my Pharmacy to Safeway. They can only give my a one month refill even though the prescription is for three months. I hate making extra trips but they’re the only pharmacy in my area that still has access to them.

[KathyLauren]

11 hours ago, Susan R said:

According to my local Walmart pharmacy, the smaller patches are going to be harder to get for a while. They can no longer get the brand I need so I moved my Pharmacy to Safeway. They can only give my a one month refill even though the prescription is for three months. I hate making extra trips but they’re the only pharmacy in my area that still has access to them.

 

So, pretty much the same story everywhere.  I found a page (Drug Shortages Canada - Estradiol) documenting the shortages.  For clarity, I put the results into a graph: patch size on the vertical axis, dates on the horizontal axis.  There is no consistent pattern.  All sizes have experienced shortages,  It is very much a case of rolling the dice whether or not you hit a shortage of your size when it is time to refill the prescription.  Plus, I am pretty sure that the pharmacies are rationing supplies when they do get them: they may have some in stock, but they won't give you a three-month supply.

 

 

[Charlize]

Occasional shortages as well as problems of adherence, especially during heavy exercise,  move me first to a spray and now to a compounded cream.  I am fortunate that my local pharmacy is one of the few in the country licensed to compound medications. 

 

Hugs,

 

Charlize

[Ivy]

The VA mails them to me.  So far I haven't had any problems.

[MaybeRob]

Hi

 

I still can't get patches locally. There is a supply in suburbs closer to the CBD. The inner areas tend to be more affluent than where I live so less people on Health care cards and getting patches much cheaper ( e.g. I pay $6.75 for a month supply of Gel sachets). The government does pay more but I sure they don't pay the chemist the full retail value. 

 

Local chemists will not order them in for me. Even chemist chains I know supply them in the inner city areas. With the gel sachets, quite a few times the assistants check stock and tell me they have 3 boxes.

[Susan R]

On 2/25/2024 at 5:28 AM, Charlize said:

Occasional shortages as well as problems of adherence

According to my Pharmacist, there has been new inventories in the main distribution center of the Sandoz Brand patches in April. Of course there has been ample supply of the larger and less expensive Mylan brand patches but other brands have been scarce. The good news for me is that I just had my 3 month prescription refilled all at once. It’s the first time since Dec. 2023 that they filled the entire 3 months supply at one time usually only supplying one month at a time. They also didn’t attempt to make a substitution with my preferred brand, Sandoz. 

 

There is one thing I noticed about this year’s supply of Estradiol patches as compared to previous years. @Charlize mentioned adherence issues. It’s nice that supplies are again increasing but these new patches have been more trouble as they have been coming partially off in the shower more often than in previous batches. Something has changed for the worse in regards to the quality of their adhesive. My brand was considered water resistant but this seems not to be the case anymore. I even apply a slightly larger piece of “Smith & Nephew” brand  Flexfit Opsite Transparent adhesive film over my patches to help with this issue but it hasn’t worked as well to keep the patches completely dry as it once had. Maybe the quality adhesive that is what’s really causing these shortages.

[Ivy]

The VA mails me the Mylan patches.  I haven't had any trouble getting them yet.  I'm just glad to actually get them.  I am careful when washing though.

[EasyE]

I'm new to all of this... but I have found the dotti brand patches adhering really well... have had no problems so far (other than forgetting one time to take the old one off when i put the new one on... didn't catch that for several hours -- oops) ...