Infarmed company allows foreign companies to label drugs due to shortage of supplies

Infarmed has authorized the use of the Danish-labeled urine reducer drug desmopressin due to a shortage of supplies, the medicines agency said.

In an announcement published on the website, the National Medicines and Health Products Authority (Infarmed) reports that stocks of Desmopressin Teva, 0.1 mg tablets (30 units) have run out, given that the labeling approval is in Danish is exceptional. and that these packages will be accompanied by an information booklet in Portuguese.

Desmopressin is a drug that reduces urine production and can be given nasally, intravenously, or in tablet form (orally or sublingually).

The most commonly used medical indications are the treatment of diabetes insipidus, enuresis (involuntary loss of urine), or nocturia (the need to urinate at night that interrupts sleep).

Due to the lack of supplies on the Portuguese market, Infarmed has, on the one hand, allowed the use of labeling in a foreign language and, on the other, banned the export of medicines that it considers essential.

The latest list of drugs whose export has been temporarily suspended, published in December, includes 140 drugs of various categories and active ingredients, such as methylphenidate (psychostimulant), chlorpromazine (antipsychotic), propranolol (antihypertensive), and meningococcal vaccine (Nimenrix). ), Oxycodone (an opioid analgesic) or Japanese encephalitis vaccine (Ixiaro).

This list is compiled monthly and includes drugs that were not available in the previous month and for which the impact was rated as moderate or high.