{"id":40214,"date":"2025-08-02T14:57:18","date_gmt":"2025-08-02T14:57:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/40214\/"},"modified":"2025-08-02T14:57:18","modified_gmt":"2025-08-02T14:57:18","slug":"drug-shortage-in-canada-painkillers-affected","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/40214\/","title":{"rendered":"Drug shortage in Canada: Painkillers affected"},"content":{"rendered":"

CEO of the Ontario Pharmacists Association Justin Bates on why finding some common painkillers may be tougher this summer. <\/p>\n

It may be tougher to find some common painkillers mainly used for chronic conditions, with a Canadian pharmacist group saying the shortages could last until Aug. 10.<\/p>\n

Some of the drugs, which contain acetaminophen with codeine or oxycodone, \u201chave become harder to get\u201d due to manufacturing disruptions and increased demand, according to a notice<\/a> posted on Health Canada\u2019s website on July 18.<\/p>\n

Justin Bates, CEO of the Ontario Pharmacists Association, told CP24 Breakfast on Tuesday that the situation is \u201cextremely unfortunate.\u201d However, he expects the drugs to be restocked by Aug. 10.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to reassure people that this is going to be corrected with a major resupply,\u201d including from the primary manufacturer of drugs like Tylenol No. 3 and Percocet, Bates said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re doing everything we can to ration supply \u2026 before the resupply hits the market.\u201d<\/p>\n

Who is affected?<\/p>\n

Bates said the shortages mostly affect those with chronic pain. In some cases, they affect those with acute or short-term pain, such as from dental surgeries.<\/p>\n

Why are there shortages?<\/p>\n

The national shortages of some prescription pain medication are due to a manufacturing disruption involving one major supplier, which has a \u201crippling effect\u201d for other manufacturers, Dr. Sadaf Faisal, director of professional affairs at the Canadian Pharmacists Association, told CTV Your Morning on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Advice for consumers<\/p>\n

Bates advised those affected to consult their pharmacist and doctor and have a non-expired naloxone kit<\/a>, which can prevent the possibly fatal effects of an opioid overdose.<\/p>\n

The challenge will be finding alternatives and safely transitioning to other drugs, particularly for those with chronic pain, he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is going to have to be a team-based approach to look for alternatives,\u201d Bates said.<\/p>\n

Still, Faisal tried to ease concerns.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe should not panic,\u201d she told CTV Your Morning. \u201cThere are alternatives available that your pharmacist and doctor can choose \u2026 and help you to navigate this shortage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Government\u2019s response to shortages<\/p>\n

Health Canada said addressing the shortage is a \u201ctop priority,\u201d noting it is increasing access to the products and working with health-care providers, provincial and territorial officials, manufacturers and distributors to share information and monitor supply.<\/p>\n

It stated that Teva Canada Limited, Apotex Inc. and Laboratoire Riva Inc. market acetaminophen with oxycodone.<\/p>\n

\u201cTeva is reporting a shortage because of manufacturing disruptions and Apotex and Riva are reporting shortages because of increased demand,\u201d according to the notice.<\/p>\n

In addition, Teva Canada Limited, Laboratoire Riva Inc. and Pharmascience Inc. market acetaminophen with codeine in various formats and strengths, according to the notice.<\/p>\n

Teva is reporting shortages of its narcotic pain reliever Lenoltec because of manufacturing disruptions, Health Canada wrote. Riva and Pharmascience are not able to meet the increased demand from Teva\u2019s shortage of Lenoltec, although they aren\u2019t reporting shortages, Health Canada added.<\/p>\n

Watch the video above for the full interview.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CEO of the Ontario Pharmacists Association Justin Bates on why finding some common painkillers may be tougher this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":40215,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[16159,64,63,137,490],"class_list":{"0":"post-40214","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-medication","8":"tag-apple-news","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-health","12":"tag-medication"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40214\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}