EpiPen advice

EpiPens are currently hard to source. So what can you do if your EpiPen is about to date expire? This post gives you more information.

Problems in the production of EpiPen, the biggest brand of adrenaline auto-injector (AAI) on the market, have led to a shortage. The distributors, Mylan, say supply problems were due to manufacturing issues. There are other brands of adrenaline autoinjector pens, Jext and Emerade, but there has also been a shortage of the alternative AAIs prescribed in the UK as demand for them has increased

Some Epipens can be used past their expiry date

In response to the shortages, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said it had agreed to a request by Mylan, the company behind EpiPen, to extend the expiry date of some batches of the 0.3mg version of the device.

The MHRA said it made the decision after it was given evidence that showed the shelf life of the 0.3mg pen was 20 months from the date it was manufactured. Mylan, the manufacturer of Epipens gives the following information:

To address supply constraints of EpiPen 0.3mg, Mylan UK have obtained acceptance from the MHRA to extend the use beyond labelled expiry date for specific lot (batch) numbers of EpiPen 0.3mg auto-injectors, beyond the labelled expiry date by four months. The affected lot numbers are listed in the table below.
The affected lots, which have labelled expiry dates between July 2018 and November 2018 are listed in the table below.

Important: the extended use only applies to the lots of EpiPen 0.3mg auto-injectors listed above.

The extension of use beyond the labelled expiry date does not apply to EpiPen 0.15mg auto-injectors or any lot numbers not specified. There is more information go to the EpiPen UK website. If you are struggling to find the expiry date or batch number on your EpiPen or if you need further advice please call into one of our pharmacies.