Oral suspension containing sodium alginate 500mg and potassium bicarbonate 100mg in 5ml
PL 0063/0103
Batch Number
Expiry Date
Pack Size
First Distributed
924471
1/08/2011
500 ml bottle
19/09/2009
925071
1/09/2011
500 ml bottle
19/09/2009
Reckitt Benckiser Healthcare (UK) Ltd are recalling the above lots due to a low -evel microbial contamination detected in one of the batches. The contamination causes spoilage of the product and a phenolic or antiseptic smell. The product should smell of peppermint.
The microbial contamination is not likely to be harmful to normally healthy consumers. However, if this product is being used by patients with suppressed immune systems, such as patients on chemotherapy, the risk of infection and other adverse reactions cannot be ruled out. General Practitioners or Pharmacists receiving enquiries from such patients are requested to give professional advice and refer to the responsible treatment centre where necessary.
Information for consumers
Reckitt Benckiser is carrying out a precautionary medicine recall at wholesale and pharmacy level, on two batches of 500ml bottles of Gaviscon Advance Peppermint Flavour; batch numbers 924471 and 925071.
The reason for this is that low-level bacterial contamination has been found in one of the batches. The recall of the other batch is purely a precautionary measure. The contamination could cause the product to spoil and alter the product’s smell from peppermint to antiseptic.
Healthy consumers who have consumed or have this product at home do not need to worry, as the contamination is unlikely to be harmful. For consumers with suppressed immune systems, such as patients on chemotherapy, the risk of infection from this contamination cannot be ruled out.
If consumers have any worries or suspected side effects, they should contact their doctor.
A series of very useful information on how to prevent Hospital Associated Infection. Very relevant to the UK as well and chimes with the work done by Dr Kieran Hand at Southampton University Hospitals Trust.
On Tuesday the 20th of October 2009, the Southampton Branch of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society hosted a presentation by Dr Kieran Hand, Consultant Pharmacist– Anti-infectives at Southampton University Hospitals Trust. It was a remarkably successful evening on a number of fronts and I will highlight these here:
The Speaker
Dr Kieran Hand is a BSc Pharmacy graduate of Strathclyde University and began his career in hospital pharmacy as a resident pharmacist at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London. He earned his PhD in pharmacology from the University of London and continued his research as a postdoctoral fellow before a brief career in the pharmaceutical industry in clinical trials pharmacovigilance. In 2002, Dr Hand returned to Chelsea and Westminster, appointed to a position of specialist microbiology pharmacist, and graduated from the first cohort of the MSc in Infection Management for Pharmacists at Imperial College. In January 2007, Kieran was appointed to the first consultant microbiology/Infectious Diseases pharmacist post in the UK, at Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust. Kieran led a team in SUHT that won the 2009 UK Clinical Pharmacy Associations (UKCPA) Novatis Award for Antimicrobial Management for the design and implementation of an electronic referral system for microbiology ward rounds. He is a committee member former chair of the UKCPA’s infectious management group and he sits on the Health Protection Agency programme board for healthcare-associated infection and antimicrobial resistance and the antibiotics prescribing sub-committee of the Department of Health Advisory committee on Antimicrobial Resistance and Healthcare Associated Infection (ARHAI). Dr Hand is a council member of the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy and an editor at the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy.
So here we have an eminent speaker and a pioneer pharmacist. [click to continue…]
Tonight bookapharmacist.com in conjuction with Pfizer, are supporting an important Branch meeting on Antibiotics Resistance (-Just another example of big Pharma working with Pharmacists). Download the events pdf here. The talk on Antibiotic Resistance will be given by no other than Dr Kieran Hand, Consultant Pharmacist – Anti-infectives at Southampton University Hospitals Trust. This promises to be a great talk and the attendee should really get a great deal out of the day.
Antibiotic pharmacists in the ascendancy – Dr Kieran Hand – Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (Link). Dr Hand has also done a lot of work around the Antibiotic risks for Clostridium Difficile.
We will be keen to understand how community pharmacists can play important roles in averting the devastating consequence of perfect storm that is antibiotics resistance.
We were at the Chemist and Druggist (C&D) conference held at the NEC in Birmingham on the 11th of October 2009 and we loved it. We recommend that you attend next year’s event. We definitely switched onto the topical discussions. The big picture is becoming even clearer!
The presentations by Sue Sharp (PSNC Chief Executive) and Jonathan Mason (NHS Clinical Director of Pharmacy) were very interesting. When Steve Poulton of Pfizer talked about how big Pharma can work in collaboration with Pharmacy, it was music to our ears. We didn’t realise Pfizer was formed from the collaboration between a Chemist and a Confectioner! How interesting. When Professor Joy Wingfield took to the stage, the whole hall was packed! Well, that is what Responsible Pharmacy regulation does to you!
Shame we couldn’t attend day 2 of the conference. But from what we saw, we will be attending next year…all of it! We hope you would too.
We hate to be picky here but this issue of extra packaging layer is our bugbear just now. We have now catalogued three cases (including this one). Maybe if we continue to do this, someone will take note and come up with a wonderful idea to minimise packaging. We all have to do our bit don’t we…for the sake of the planet!
At bookapharmacist.com we like to recognise a good level of preparedness of the IT tools we have to work with in community pharmacy. This case echoes the point that was made by MUROnline in relation to the proposed unified MUR interface (UMI): “The pace of implementation of software changes is determined by the speed of the system provider to respond to change not by the need of the pharmacist or the pharmacy business” (1).
The Responsible Pharmacy(RP) regulation came to effect on the 1st of October 2008 (Thursday). The IT system I use was obviously not geared for the change yet. However, I worked in a different shop on the Saturday the 3rd of October and was pleasantly surprised that the IT system there was geared for the RP regulation (screenshot below).
This system can print out your legal notifications as well as make the necessary logs. A number of providers have produced commercial software to make pharmacies compliant with the regulation.
bookapharmacist.com is currently planning a response to the regulation but before we do, we would like to say a big well done to Rx Systems Ltd (Email: info@rxsystems.co.uk; Sales/Support: 0845 634 2634) (and some of the other systems providers) for being getting there first.
Here, we follow up on our post of the 15th of September 2009 titled: New Packaging: What is the point? Here is another evidence of increasing use of extra layer of packaging for medicinal products. Anyone with ingenious ways of tackling this increasing problem?
It is difficult not to have noticed the oncoming significant change in community pharmacy regulation. We are referring to the Responsible Pharmacist regulation which is due to take effect in eh…3 days (1st October 2009). At bookapharmacist.com, we call it “the birth of responsibility”. If this is the birth of responsibility, then what has community [...]
Gaviscon Advance Peppermint Flavour
On Tuesday the 20th of October 2009, the Southampton Branch of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society hosted a presentation by Dr Kieran Hand, Consultant Pharmacist– Anti-infectives at Southampton University Hospitals Trust. It was a remarkably successful evening on a number of fronts and I will highlight these here:
Tonight bookapharmacist.com in conjuction with Pfizer, are supporting an important Branch meeting on Antibiotics Resistance (-Just another example of big Pharma working with Pharmacists). 
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