Precautionary recall alert

In a precautionary recall measure, a treatment for psoriasis (Dovobet Gel - calcipotriol with betamethasone)  is included in the full list of products that are subject of an alert issued by The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) . Other products are for patients taking certain types of prescription-only medicines for Parkinson’s (Neupro), epilepsy (Vimpat) and blood clots (Clexane)  patients are asked to check to see if they have products from batches of medicines which are being recalled. The medicines are believed to be legitimate but were taken out of the regulated medicines’ supply chain during distribution and later re-introduced. This means that the correct transport and storage conditions cannot be guaranteed during this period and, while unlikely, could impact their effectiveness. 

The medicines are stable at room temperature and there is no evidence that they were tampered with. This means that the risk of these medicines not being fully effective is greatly reduced or negligible. Therefore patients should continue taking their medicine.

Patients can check their medicines by looking for the affected batch numbers on B & S Healthcare labelled packs. The affected medicines are in the original Italian packaging with the UK manufacturer’s, B & S Healthcare, label. This recall relates only to B & S Healthcare labelled products.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has undertaken a medical assessment of the products to determine whether there is any risk to patients. As a precautionary measure, three medicines are being recalled to a patient level because in the very unlikely event that these products are not fully effective there is a potential risk to patient safety. For these three particular medicines, whilst the likelihood of their effectiveness being compromised is low (because they are stable legitimate medicines), the consequences of a lack of effectiveness could be serious which is why they are being recalled from patients.

If patients have any of these affected products, they should continue taking their medicines and contact their GP practice to arrange a new prescription. Once they have a new prescription, patients should return the affected batches to their pharmacist.

To check if you have an affected product, below are the included psoriasis products, batch numbers and dates. The alert is ONLY for those psoriasis products listed below, but if in doubt talk to your doctor or pharmacist, who will be able to advise you fully.
 

Read alert in full on the MHRA website.