As many of you may be aware (especially our pediatric colleagues), there has been a recent unavailability of Naprosyn in liquid Suspension form. This product has been ‘owned’ by Roche Canada, for the Canadian market, but its manufacture had been outsourced to another Canadian company, who informed Roche in the Spring of 2013 that they would not be renewing their manufacturing agreement. Thus, Roche was unable to provide product (and were mistaken in their original belief that there were alternative sources available). This matter was brought to the attention of the CRA by Rosie Scuccimarri at Montreal Children’s Hospital, and members of the ORA have been involved extensively with a process to resolve this untenable situation.

The ORA is pleased to annouce that the issue of Naprosyn Suspension shortage has been resolved. We would like to acknowledge the hard work of a quickly assembled committee that included Drs. Thorne, Scuccimarri, Levy, Benseler and our executive director, Denis Morrice. We would like to recognize the cooperation of Roche Canada. Pediapharm (Montreal) is a company that provides products that are pediatric specific, and will assume the DIN and become responsible for the manufacure and distribution of Naprosyn Suspension. Until Canadian manufacture is secured, the product will be imported from Orion (a Finnish company) and will be available through the Health Canada Special Access Program (SAP) for the next 8 to 12 months. Roche will continue to support the supply of this product until local manufacture starts. There will be no cost to the patient for Naprosyn Suspension during the SAP period. This is country wide. A Canadian manufactured Naprosyn Suspension is expected to be available through Pediapharm by March 2015. Further details, forms and FAQ’s can be found on the CRA website.

Please follow the link to view the press announcement: http://www.stockhouse.com/news/press-releases/2014/07/02/pediapharm-inc-acquires-naproxen-suspension-from-hoffmann-la-roche-limited