10 November 2022
Prenoxad injectable naloxone kits may be incomplete.
The UK Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has today issued a Class 4 Medicines Notification to anybody who supplies and possesses a naloxone kit that some kits may have been supplied incomplete.
All naloxone supplied is safe to use. However, it appears that some batches supplied may contain only one or no needles, instead of two. This warning has been prompted by a few cases outside the UK.
What to do: Check your kit.
You can check whether your kit has two needles by holding it up to a light source and see if you can see two dark patches that are the wrapping of the needles inside. If you can only see one dark patch or none then you should return your naloxone kit to any naloxone supplier, tell them that you are returning it as it does not contain two needles, and ask for a new kit.
A naloxone kit held up in a strong light will show two distinct dark rectangles showing that it contains two needles.
You can check your kit without breaking the seal. DO NOT OPEN YOUR NALOXONE KIT.
All Naloxone kits have a sticker that gives the Lot Number.
The Lot numbers of concern are given below. There are no concerns about the safety of medicine in these packs and the vast majority of kits in these batches or lots will be complete and safe – you just need to check that they have both the needles included.
Should the needles from the pack be missing and in the emergency of a suspected overdose, blue ‘muscle’ needles or reasonable alternative needles should be used for the intramuscular administration of naloxone.
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