Canada faces a new shortage of medication. This time, these are products containing acetaminophen with codeine or with oxycodone, narcotics often used to relieve acute pain following, for example, injury, operation or dental intervention.
Health Canada issued a notice on July 18, reporting this acetaminophen shortage with codeine or with oxycodone. He explains that the manufacturer Teva Canada is experiencing disturbances in its production and that other manufacturers who market these products are unable to meet current demand.
In Quebec, the reserves of these products are “mainly sold”, according to the Quebec Pharmacy Distributors Association (AQDP).
“The wholesale distributors play in inventory a few weeks of medication to play a buffer role in these kinds of situations, but the economic context means that the number of weeks of inventory products is lower than before and our ability to play a buffer role is weakened,” explains its director general, Hugues Mousseau.
Patients should not, however, be concerned, according to the Quebec Quebec Association of Pharmacists of Quebec. “We have other options for pain,” says her director of pharmaceutical services, Marie-Pascale Beaulieu. “Since it is a narcotic, it is a little more complicated substitution, but it is possible to do so. »»
According to her, these drugs are mainly prescribed for acute pain and more rarely for crisis management in the event of chronic pain.
Analgesics can replace acetaminophen with codeine or with oxycodone, says Marie-Pascale Beaulieu. The doctor’s opinion is however required during a substitution by another narcotic. “The regulations for narcotics are much tighter,” she says.
The AQDP believes that pharmacists, “experts in medication”, should be able to make these substitutions themselves in order to “avoid having to return to the prescriber in circumstances like this”.
“In a context of a record challenge and record shortages for a few years, it seems to us to be a simple and safe solution to make efficiency gains for the network and patients,” says Hugues Mousseau.
The AQDP does not expect a return to normal for these products before the middle of the fall. Marie-Pascale Beaulieu invites patients to discuss alternatives with their pharmacist.