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lantus manufacturing problem?

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the_anticarb

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I went to get my lantus from boots today and they could only give me 2 pens (script was for 2 boxes of 5 pens). They had more but needed to give them to someone else. Apparantly there is a manufacturing problem and they don't know when they can get any more. Other chemists in the area have same problem.

Has anyone else heard this? I can't imagine they would run out of a drug like lantus which thousands of diabetics rely on to stay alive. I have enough to last me a couple of weeks now so hope they can sort it out before then but what would happen if they couldn't?
 
Hi,

I'm a dispenser in a pharmacy and yes there there seems to be an issue with some of the Lantus pens. Lantus Solostar pens seem to be the only ones available now (don't know if that's permanent or if the others will reappear), but Lantus penfill cartridges are also still available. Don't panic - ask your doc if you can have the Solostar pens or the cartridges to go into a reusable pen :)
 
Ooh, have just remembered the message we got at work on the Lantus Opticlik and Optiset was 'discontinued'. But the advantage of the Solostar pens is that they can be dialled up in increments of one instead of two. Am I right in thinking the other pens were in steps of 2? And if you end up using cartridges in reusable pens, you can get those pens which dial up in half unit increments, which is great for fine tuning dose changes. Hope that helps.

Jo
 
pickle76 said:
Hi,

I'm a dispenser in a pharmacy and yes there there seems to be an issue with some of the Lantus pens. Lantus Solostar pens seem to be the only ones available now (don't know if that's permanent or if the others will reappear), but Lantus penfill cartridges are also still available. Don't panic - ask your doc if you can have the Solostar pens or the cartridges to go into a reusable pen :)
Click to expand...


It's the solostar pens I use pickle - these are the ones they cannot get. I'm hoping it will ony be a short term problem though and I do have some in reserve, but I am just suprised that they can run out of such an important medicine it's not like people can choose not to take it for a few weeks, although I suppose there are alternatives.
 
Ah I see. Well yes, I do hope more stock is available soon as there are likely to be a lot of people worried! I have to say we haven't had probs getting the Solostar yet so hopefully the issue is being resolved elsewhere too. And remember the option for the cartridges....
 
There has been a problem with the Solostar pen for a while. I'm in the US and it was initially reported only for the pens that were for apidra. There was a problem at the manufacturing facility in Germany in June/July last year and it was shut down for a while. Sanofi-Aventis were predicting a worldwide shortage of apudra solostar by the end of 2011. Due to the way the system works here, people on apidra solostar were encouraged to switched to vials with the offer of "free" vials until the end of April this year. I think the discontinuance of the opticlix was bad timing and made the problem worse as the program has been extended to the end of the year and expanded to include lantus. You may find that the pens are or are not available depending on your pharmacy and when you go in. I know Sanofi-Aventis are trying to keep everyone who truely needs the pen with an adequate supply but You may want to consider vials in the short term since there is no problem with the insulin itself.
 
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