HRT products could be shipped to UK from Europe next week

A major manufacturer of hormone replacement therapy products has said that they will be able to ship extra supplies from France and Poland to the UK next week.

Tina Backhouse, the general UK manager at Theramex, which makes about a dozen HRT drugs, including Femseven patches, said the company needed permission to bring in products from France that were not licensed in the UK. The products of Theramex are mostly made in Germany, but some are licensed in other European countries.

Backhouse met the UK's newly appointed HRT tsar, Madelaine McTernan, and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency this week and expects to get consent after a further meeting on Monday.

We are trying to get permission from MHRA. She said that it is not unusual for other companies to do it.

Theramex, a private equity-owned pharmaceutical firm based in London, is preparing to bring in HRT patches from Poland, which are licensed in the UK but need English labels.

Backhouse said they are looking for short-term solutions as well as longer-term solutions in terms of bringing other products from other countries in.

There is a shortage of HRT products in the UK. It was triggered by a surge in demand after the TV presenters spoke about their menopause experiences.

The most popular oestrogen gel product, Oestrogel, is made by Besins Healthcare, a privately owned firm based in Brussels.

The British Menopause Society and HRT manufacturers are calling for other measures, including a national list of approved HRT medicines that would allow all doctors and pharmacists to prescribe whichever products are available.

In England, when local clinical commissioning groups were created, many of the previously national-level decision making powers were passed on to them. There can be delays when new drugs are licensed.

There are brand new products in this country that are licensed but aren't being used because of formulary restrictions. We should have a national formulary of HRTs that are available and in stock, rather than waiting for every individual locality to do that. It would be easy to do.

She said that Theramex had a new MHRA-approved product that was only being prescribed in three areas.

The National Pharmacy Association wants the power to change prescriptions when certain products are out of stock.