Doctors are being urged to consider severe shortages of hormone replacement therapy patches, before starting new patients on the crucial treatment. But health professionals say it's not a long-term fix to an ongoing problem and want authorities to do more to shore up supply lines.
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00:00The Therapeutic Goods Administration has advised doctors to limit starting new patients on
00:07HRT patches to try to preserve supply for existing patients.
00:11There's currently about a dozen HRT patches, both estrogen only and combination estrogen
00:17progesterone patches, that are in short supply.
00:20Some aren't expected to return to normal supply levels for another 12 months.
00:24Now, this has been an ongoing shortage, it's been distressing and debilitating for Australian
00:29women who rely on these patches to treat a range of menopausal symptoms like hot flushes,
00:34joint pain, mood swings and even disturbed sleep.
00:38The Australian Medical Association President Danielle McMullen says while this advice will
00:42help in the short term, a long term fix is needed.
00:47It's deeply frustrating, not just for us as doctors and prescribers and pharmacists, but
00:53particularly for women suffering the symptoms of menopause for months and years.
00:58It's been tricky to have those conversations with women about what's the best choice of
01:03therapy for them, only for them to get to the pharmacy and find out that that particular
01:07brand is out of stock and the pharmacist needs to have a long conversation about a different
01:11brand or that they can't get anything at all for a while.
01:14It really disrupts care.
01:17The ABC also spoke to 33-year-old mother of two, Ashley Ward.
01:22Ashley underwent a radical hysterectomy to try to stop the spread of ovarian cancer last
01:27year and she says that she was effectively flung into what she describes as full-blown
01:32menopause overnight.
01:34The HRT patches really help her symptoms, they put estrogen back into her body and the
01:39alternative gels and pills haven't worked as well for her.
01:42But she can't find any patches, she's really struggling to find the patches and says she's
01:46gone as long as five months without any of them.
01:50Take a listen.
01:51I'm in this constant state of worry and anxiety and pressure to find them for myself.
01:57So calling chemist after chemist and driving to the Sunshine Coast or out to Victoria Point
02:04just because I found a chemist that has them.
02:07And that's just so much extra pressure on everything else that I'm already going through.
02:13And when you get that box, you celebrate for a moment, but then you think, will I be able
02:19to get this next month or the month after?
02:23Where's the next box going to come from?
02:25Am I going to have to travel interstate soon just to get my hands on a box?
02:30The TGA says the current supply issues are being felt across the world and it says there
02:35are a range of factors contributing to them like manufacturing constraints and also higher
02:40than expected demand.
02:42It's also worth noting that one of the major producers of these patches dropped out of
02:46the market last year and so that put additional pressure on existing suppliers.
02:51Now the TGA notes that it can't compel companies to make more of these patches and it also
02:56can't compel them to manufacture them here in Australia.
03:00But it says it has approved a range of overseas brands of these HRT patches, it's temporarily
03:08approved them for use in Australia.
03:10And it's also used a substitution instrument, which effectively means you can go to the
03:14pharmacist with a script and you could get a different brand or a different strength
03:19of medicine without needing a new script from your doctor.
03:22The TGA says managing these medicine shortages is a priority for the Federal Government.