Sandoz Canada Continues To Work With Key Stakeholders To Help Ensure Continued Supply Of Critical Medicines
- Ongoing efforts to strengthen high-quality manufacturing standards have resulted in a temporary slow-down of production at the Boucherville, Quebec, manufacturing site
- Production at the site continues and is prioritized around essential products to help ensure continued supply of critical drugs to patients
- Regular and transparent communication with healthcare practitioners and key stakeholders to find best possible solutions to meeting patient needs will continue
Sandoz Canada is continuing its efforts to maintain reliable supply of essential medicines following a temporary slow-down in production, resulting from increased investment in strengthening manufacturing compliance at its Boucherville, Quebec, site.
In light of the November 2011 Warning Letter from the US Food and Drug Administration, Sandoz Canada has intensified its ongoing efforts to ensure high quality standards at this manufacturing plant. As production continues, the company is focusing its efforts on essential medicines and prioritizing resources to ensure normal supply is restored as quickly as possible.
As part of this prioritization, the company has discontinued production of some non-essential drugs, including ointments, ophthalmics, suppositories and certain injectable drugs, for most of which it has already identified potential alternative supply from within Sandoz/Novartis or other qualified third-party suppliers. The company has also temporarily streamlined the number of formats for several drugs, and is working with suppliers of equivalent drugs and other third-party manufacturers to help meet demand. Sandoz Canada's extensive solid oral product line, patches and Omnitrope are not affected by the current situation.
Sandoz Canada is also continuing its efforts to keep healthcare practitioners and other key stakeholders regularly updated on product availability. The company has begun issuing a weekly summary of anticipated delays in delivery of critical products, which is available to all healthcare practitioners through its website and has been shared with Health Canada. Patients can address any questions to their healthcare practitioner.
"Our objective is to restore normal levels of supply as soon as possible, and we will make every effort to meet patient needs while ensuring consistent high quality standards in manufacturing and ongoing process improvements in the most transparent way possible," said Sandoz Canada President Michel Robidoux. "We will focus all available capacity on the supply of medically necessary injectable medicines to try to ensure that patients with critical medical conditions continue receiving adequate treatment. Our patients remain our top priority."
Sandoz stands behind the safety, efficacy and quality of its products, and is treating this situation with the utmost priority.
About Sandoz Canada Inc.
Established in Boucherville, Quebec, Sandoz Canada is part of Sandoz International GmbH, the world's second largest producer of generic drugs and a subsidiary of the Swiss multinational corporation, Novartis. A leader in its field, Sandoz Canada develops, produces, markets and distributes a wide range of generic products used, among others, in anaesthesia, infectious diseases, oncology, cardiology, and pain management. The Boucherville manufacturing plant specializes in the production of key injectable products.
SOURCE: Sandoz Canada Inc.