19 December 2016
Dear Colleague
Trifluoperazine hydrochloride 1 mg, 2 mg and 5 mg tablets
We are writing to update you about the availability of the antipsychotic medication trifluoperazine
hydrochloride 1 mg, 2 mg and 5 mg tablets, known by the brand name Stelazine.
We would appreciate it if you could share this message with your members.
The supplier of Stelazine, Boucher and Muir, has advised that there is a supply shortage in both
New Zealand and Australia as the manufacturer has ceased production due to low volumes. The
registered version of Stelazine is no longer available and will be delisted from the Pharmaceutical
Schedule from 1 July 2017.
Boucher and Muir has sourced limited stock of an alternative brand of the 1 mg and 5 mg (but not
2 mg) tablets, Apo-Trifluoperazine, which will be listed fully funded on the Pharmaceutical
Schedule from 1 January 2017. We expect this stock will be available within the month of
January. Apo-Trifluoperazine is not registered in New Zealand and will be supplied under Section
29 of the Medicines Act (S29)1. The stock is expected to be exhausted in late 2017 and will be
delisted on 1 December 2017.
This means that trifluoperazine hydrochloride tablets will no longer be funded from 1 December
2017.
To help with this discontinuation transition, the funding rules for trifluoperazine hydrochloride will
be amended from 1 January 2017 so that it will only be funded for patients who were prescribed it
prior to 1 January 2017.
What this means for you:
new patients should be started on one of the other currently funded antipsychotic
medications
prescribers should start switching existing patients to alternative treatments as soon as
possible
If you have any other questions about this, please feel free to contact me.
Yours sincerely
John Wyeth
Medical Director
1
What should you tell patients supplied trifluoperazine hydrochloride under Section 29 ?
inform the patient the medicine they are prescribed is unapproved; and
their name and prescribed medicine will be recorded by the supplier and may also be sent to Medsafe
A980052