This is the text extract for 2009-09-30 Listing of alternate brands of diclofenac sodium tablets; and removal of Close Control for diclofenac sodium tab EC 25 mg and 50 mg, browse documents here.

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FACSIMILE

To Fax From Subject Date All New Zealand Pharmacies, IPA Pharmacy Facilitators and Wholesalers Autodial Kaye Wilson, Schedule Analyst Listing of alternate brands of diclofenac sodium tablets 30 September 2009 Pages 4

Dear Pharmacist and Wholesaler As you are aware, Apotex is currently unable to meet demand for stocks of diclofenac sodium tablets. Consequently, PHARMAC will be subsidising alternative brands of diclofenac sodium tablets EC 25 mg and 50 mg, and tablets long-acting 75 mg from 1 October 2009 as follows:

Chemical and presentation Diclofenac sodium tab EC 25 mg Diclofenac sodium tab EC 50 mg Diclofenac sodium tab long-acting 75 mg Diclofenac sodium tab long-acting 75 mg

Brand Diclohexal Diclohexal Diclax SR Voltaren SR

Pack Size 50 50 30 100

Price and subsidy $1.63 $2.13 $3.10 $19.60

Note prices shown are ex-manufacturer, excl GST

Please note: · The above brands, strengths and pack sizes will be listed in Section B of the Pharmaceutical Schedule from Thursday 1 October 2009 and will be fully subsidised from that date. · Further brands and/or pack sizes of the above brands may be listed at a future date. · Instructions on how to amend pharmacy software systems have been provided.

This facsimile message contains information that is confidential and which may be subject to legal privilege. If you are not the intended recipient, you must not peruse, use, disseminate, distribute or copy this message. If you have received this message in error, please notify us immediately by facsimile or telephone (call us collect) and return the original message to us by mail. Thank you.

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Close Control

· · Pharmacists’ authorisation to endorse prescriptions Close Control for diclofenac sodium tab EC 25 mg and 50 mg will be revoked from 1 October 2009. Prescriptions will only be able to be initiated Close Control before this date. From 1 October 2009 prescriptions with repeats for diclofenac sodium tab EC 25 mg and 50 mg first dispensed Close Control monthly can either be (at the discretion of the pharmacist and stock availability) o completed Close Control monthly, or o dispensed stat where appropriate. Close Control pharmacist authorisation for diclofenac sodium tab long-acting 75 mg and 100 mg has NOT been revoked and remains in place until further notice. Pharmacists will need to annotate any prescriptions dispensed Close Control for audit purposes.

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LOTS Users

LOTS Internet Update Sites The new listings of Diclohexal EC 25mg and 50mg have been included in the LOTS Internet update. The signoff for Voltaren and Diclax 75mg came through too late for inclusion in the update so please add as per the instructions below. LOTS CD Update Sites The listing notifications came too late for the October CD Update. If you normally run the update from the CD and you want to dispense any of the newly listed diclofenac tablets in October you should follow the instructions to manually amend the stockcards. (This change will be on the November CD Update). To manually amend the stockcards 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Go into LOTS Stockcards Search for the PDE# Change the List Cost if necessary Select the ‘Drug Information’ tab Change the Indication name from "De-listed"(or ”NSS”) to "General" (Click once on “DeListed”/”NSS” to highlight the box in yellow, then type in the word General). 6. Delete the existing Dispensary Message and type message in table below 7. Enter both the Normal and High subsidies. 8. Premium should be $0.00 9. Select ‘Search’ to go to the next stockcard 10. Select ‘YES’ to save the changes made to this stock item. 11. Repeat #2 to #10 12. When you have finished amending all the stockcards select ‘Exit’ 13. Select ‘Yes’ to save the changes. Product Voltaren SR 75mg T 100’s Diclax SR 75mg T 30’s Diclohexal EC 25mg T 50’s Diclohexal EC 50mg T 50’s

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PDE# 2140276 768278 2340585 2340593

List Cost 21.56 3.41 1.79 2.34

Subsidy (Normal) 19.60 3.10 1.63 2.13

Subsidy (High) 19.60 3.10 1.63 2.13

Dispensary Message Pharmacist can endorse Close control Pharmacist can endorse Close control Stat Drug rule applies! Stat Drug rule applies!

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TONIQ Users

Implementation of PHARMAC decisions re- short supply of diclofenac sodium. Late Listing decisions: 1) Late listing of DICLOHEXAL EC 25mg (2340585) and EC 50 mg (2340593) from 1 October – this will be reflected in your October medicine update. These new listings are stat medicines and there is plenty of stock, so limited stock close control does not apply. No action is required to implement these decisions in Toniq. 2) Very late listing of DICLAX SR and VOLTAREN SR NOT included in the medicine update on CD nor on the dowloadable medicine update – to date. The downloadable file will have these listings added by midday 30th September, so a re-download after that time will result in them being added to your system (when you do the update on the 1st). Pharmacies with CD updates can manually adjust their system after the 1st following instructions on the next page. Limited Stock Close Control decisions. Pharmacies can optionally be reflect these by setting/unsetting a special close control prompt on the 3rd page of the medicine edit screen. This is a manual setting and is not set by the medicine update. 3) APO-DICLO EC 25mg (793116) and APO-DICLO EC 50mg (768278)– Ending of limited stock close control (start notified by PHARMAC fax in September). To implement this in Toniq, set the Limited stock close control END date. 1. Prescriptions · F7 Med Repeat for:

Select pcode

F11 Page 2 F11 Page 3

793116<Enter>

APO-DICLO 25mg SR

768278<Enter>

APO-DICLO 50mg SR

Limited stock close control – lifted.

When PHARMAC notified start of close control you may have set the start date to 11/09/09 – to cause the Toniq program to prompt close control.

NOW Set END Date : 30/09/09

to stop close control prompt on this medicine.

F11 Page1 F12 Accept Details

1) Limited stock close control (as notified by PHARMAC fax in September) continues on both APO-DICLO 75mg long acting tablets 2025752 and 100 mg long acting tablets 2025760-. Optionally set or check the start date for the Limited stock close control on these medicines to be prompted close control. Set the end date to 31/10/09 until further notified by Pharmac.

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2) Re-listing of VOLTAREN 75mg SR 100pack and DICLAX 75mg SR 30pack – and limited supply close control notification. From the Toniq Dispensary program, Main Menu 1. Prescriptions · F7 Med VOLTAREN 75mg SR (100pack) Diclax SR 75mg (30’s)

Select pharmacode

F8 Go to Price Std W/S Price :

2140276<Enter>

21.56 No change

768278<Enter>

3.41 No change

EDIT PS Price:

Product Prem. F11 Page 2 F11 Page 3

21.56

from 0.00 0.00 No change

3.41 from 0.00

0.00 No change

Limited stock close control details:

Optionally set the start date for the Limited stock close control on these medicines to be prompted close control. Set the end date to 31/10/09 until further notified by Pharmac Press <DELETE> key Press <DELETE> key

Check STAT END Date is blank – delete if not.

F11 Page1 F12 Accept Details

NB: Prices in the Toniq system represent the PHARMAC Schedule price + 10%

We do not have an expected date when Apo-Diclo and Apo-Diclo SR will be back in the market. We will continue to keep you informed. Thank you for your co-operation. We appreciate this is a disruption but thank you for your assistance. If you have any questions regarding the above, please contact PHARMAC on 0800 66 00 50 (9am-5pm Monday to Friday). Yours sincerely

Kaye Wilson Schedule Analyst

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