A major blood pressure medication is still in short supply across the UK after bosses limited prescriptions in April. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) issued a shortage warning on April 22 for Ramipril 1.25mg capsules, and extended it past May 29 across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Community pharmacies are only allowed to dispense a maximum of one month’s supply per prescription, even for patients who normally get two or three months’ supply. No prescription charges apply when it is supplied this way. Ramipril 1.25mg and 2.5mg tablets and the oral solution remain available, but the DHSC has warned they cannot meet increased demand if all capsule patients switch to these forms.
If you take 1.25mg capsules, you have been urged to contact your pharmacist about tablet alternatives now, before stocks run low.
Ramipril is one of the top 10 prescribed drugs in the country, widely used to treat hypertension and heart failure, with more than 35 million items dispensed in England alone last year.
It is an ACE inhibitor, which means it lowers blood pressure by relaxing and widening blood vessels. While there are many ACE inhibitors, this particular drug is popular because it has a long half-life, so it stays in your body a while, and it only needs to be taken once a day.
The capsule itself isn’t an active medicine, but the liver converts it into ramiprilat, which does the work. This process means that the full effect of ramipril usually kicks in after two to four weeks, so blood pressure will not immediately drop after the first dose.
The UK Government also issued a recall on April 20 for one batch of 10mg Ramipril capsules manufactured by Crescent Pharma, due to a packaging error. Some cartons contained 5mg blister strips instead of 10mg.
This was a safety issue rather than a supply issue, but any recall can have a knock-on effect on the supply chain.
DHSC and NHS England have launched an online medicines supply tool, which provides up-to-date information about medicine supply issues.
This story originally appeared on Express.co.uk
