Earlier this year, the pharmaceutical company Sandoz, which manufactures the estrogen patches with the drug Estradot, reported that they had problems with production planning. That would lead to a shortage of plasters in the autumn.
The Swedish Medicines Agency then gave permission to import American plasters in an attempt to reduce the shortage. The permit expired on the first of August, and has now been renewed, but it still won’t be enough.
– As it looks with the data we have now, it will only cover a small part of the need this autumn, says Eva Petterssongroup manager at the Medicines Access unit, to TT.
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She adds that more may come from abroad, but it depends on whether the pharmaceutical company can offer an additional amount of equivalent patches to the Swedish market.
According to information to the Swedish Medicines Agency, the pharmaceutical company’s Swedish estrogen patches should be available from November. But whether that is enough is unclear, according to Pettersson.
Hormone replacement drugs of various kinds are a type of drug that companies often report shortages of to the Swedish Medicines Agency.
— The residual situation has been going on for a long time. Demand exceeds production. Sweden has not received enough. It only covers a small part, but Sweden is not the only market that is affected, says Pettersson.
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Other treatments
Sweden lacks other approved transdermal patches that only contain estradiol. There are other estrogen treatments. In some cases, the person being treated with estrogen via the skin can switch to taking the hormone in tablet form. But it doesn’t work for all women.
Women who have had blood clots or liver damage and women who have undergone bariatric surgery, for example, cannot take tablets instead.