Medicine Supply Notification: Chloral Hydrate 143.3mg in 5ml oral solution – Update

Update: resupply date now expected to be 31/03/2022 (02/03/2022)

Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has issued a Medicine Supply Notification (MSN) for Chloral Hydrate 143.3mg in 5ml oral solution

MSN/2021/019

Tier 2 – medium impact

Date of issue: 30/03/2021

• Chloral Hydrate 143.3mg in 5ml oral solution is out of stock until September 2021.
• Specials manufacturers have confirmed they can manufacture chloral hydrate 143.3mg in 5ml oral solution to meet demand of the licensed product.

The following specials manufacturers have confirmed they can manufacture chloral hydrate oral solution, please note there may be other companies that can also manufacture this product.

• Ascot labs    – 143.3mg in 5ml oral solution
• Alium Medical    – 143.3mg in 5ml oral solution*
• Target Healthcare    – 143.3mg in 5ml oral solution*

*Please note these products are not batch manufactured and the supplier will only provide a certificate of conformity (CoC). Suppliers providing batch manufactured products will provide a certificate of analysis (CofA).

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 unlicensed Chloral Hydrate 143.3mg in 5ml oral solution cannot be issued. Where a prescriber wishes to prescribe an unlicensed import, an FP10 paper prescription should be issued as ‘Chloral Hydrate 143.3mg in 5ml oral solution (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

The DHSC Medicine Supply Team provide a monthly update on potential supply issues affecting both primary and secondary care. This update is uploaded on the Specialist Pharmacy Services (SPS) website. To register, 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.