MS Patient in Pain as Nabilone Runs Short Across UK
A woman in Northern Ireland has been without a drug that eases her MS pain. Both licensed doses are out of stock with wholesalers until December.
Jill Kenning, who has multiple sclerosis, says she is living with "horrific pain" after running out of a drug she has taken for most of the 18 years since her diagnosis. The medicine is Nabilone, and she could not get a repeat prescription.
Northern Ireland's Department of Health said supplies are disrupted across the UK. Both licensed doses are out of stock with wholesalers and are not expected back until December. The 1mg capsules were hit in July, and the 0.25mg strength ran out more recently. The department would not say why, calling that information "commercially sensitive".
"Stabbed with a hot poker"
Kenning, from Coleraine in County Londonderry, was diagnosed in 2008 after problems with her sight. Numbness down her left side followed. A severe relapse put her in hospital for four weeks, and afterwards she was prescribed Nabilone. She said it made a massive difference: "It helps me basically that I can get out of bed in the morning."
She ran out last Tuesday and has spent most of her time in bed since. She describes constant pain in one eye, like being "stabbed with a hot poker". Her health trust told her there was no stock and sent her to her neurologist. She has been prescribed other medication, but says the alternatives have not worked. Her condition worsened until she had to stay in hospital for several nights.
"I have been living on painkillers... I can't sleep, I'm sick, I'm not eating," she said. She said more should have been done to prepare patients, and that she is fighting for everyone else on the drug too.
Shortages rising
A tracker published by the industry guide MIMS shows the number of drugs in short supply in the UK has trended upward this year. It reached 157 this week, up from a low of 107 in January.
The Department of Health said it is working with the Department of Health and Social Care and health trusts. Guidance has gone to clinicians on alternatives, including unlicensed imports of Nabilone where available. Patients who cannot get their medicine, or who are worried about an alternative, should speak to their specialist teams, a spokesperson said.
Source: BBC News