Medicine Supply Notification: Estradiol (Sandrena® ) 500microgram and 1mg gel sachets
Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has issued a medicine supply notification for Estradiol (Sandrena® ) 500microgram and 1mg gel sachets.
MSN/2022/048
Tier 2 – medium impact
Date of issue 23rd May 2022
- Estradiol (Sandrena®) 500microgram and 1mg gel sachets are out of stock until early June 2022.
- Three Serious Shortage Protocols (SSP) were issued on 20/05/2022 to allow community
pharmacists to limit supply to three months or where supplies of estradiol (Sandrena®) 500microgram
and/or 1mg gel sachets are unavailable, to supply estradiol patches, which remain available. - Where this is not appropriate, alternative hormone replacement therapies also remain available.
- Where the above alternatives are not suitable, unlicensed supplies of Sandrena® 1mg gel sachets
can be sourced, lead times vary.
The following specialist importers have confirmed they can source unlicensed Sandrena® 1mg gel sachets
(please note there may be other companies that can also source supplies):
When prescribing a product that is not licensed in the UK due to a supply issue with the licensed alternative
prescribers must indicate on the FP10 prescription that an unlicensed product is required. This can be done
in one of the following two ways:
Electronic prescriptions – if the required unlicensed product is shown on electronic prescribing
systems, GPs should select:
- Sandrena 1mg gel sachets (Imported)
Paper prescriptions – where the unlicensed product is not shown on electronic prescribing systems,
GPs should use a paper prescription and annotate with the following wording: “special order
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.
