County Durham & Tees Valley Formulary

Chapters

Legend

Green Drug - Can be initiated and prescribed in all care settings.
Green Alternative - Second line / alternative green drug
Green+ drug - Specialist initiation / recommendation.
Amber drug - Specialist drugs suitable for transfer under shared care protocols.
Red drug - "Specialist only" drugs (not for transfer).
Not Approved - Drugs that are not approved for prescribing.
Not Reviewed - Drugs that haven’t been reviewed yet and should not normally be prescribed
Unclassed Drug - approved but no traffic light status (mainly antibiotics)
Grey Drug

Drug Safety Update

Modafinil (Provigil): increased risk of congenital malformations if used during pregnancy

Modafinil potentially increases the risk of congenital malformations when used in pregnancy.

Published: 2020-11-16T16:00:51Z
Pirfenidone (Esbriet): risk of serious liver injury; updated advice on liver function testing

Serious liver injury has been reported during treatment with pirfenidone in the first year after initiation, including 2 cases with a fatal outcome.

Published: 2020-11-16T16:00:27Z
Ferric carboxymaltose (Ferinject▼): risk of symptomatic hypophosphataemia leading to osteomalacia and fractures

Monitor serum phosphate levels in patients treated with multiple high-dose administrations, or those on long-term treatment, and in those with pre-existing risk factors for hypophosphataemia.

Published: 2020-11-16T16:00:00Z
Bupropion (Zyban): risk of serotonin syndrome with use with other serotonergic drugs

Cases of serotonin syndrome have been identified in associated with bupropion, especially in overdose or when bupropion is administered with other drugs with a serotonergic effect.

Published: 2020-11-16T15:59:22Z
Isotretinoin (Roaccutane▼): contribute to expert review

A review is being undertaken by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency with advice from the Commission on Human Medicines and the Isotretinoin Expert Working Group due to concerns about the possible associat…

Published: 2020-11-16T15:58:49Z
Letters and drug alerts sent to healthcare professionals in October 2020

A summary of letters and drug alerts recently sent to healthcare professionals.

Published: 2020-11-16T15:42:11Z
5-fluorouracil (intravenous), capecitabine, tegafur: DPD testing recommended before initiation to identify patients at increased risk of severe and fatal toxicity

Patients with complete or partial dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPD) deficiency are at increased risk of severe and fatal toxicity during treatment with these medicines.

Published: 2020-10-22T13:16:03Z
Flucytosine (Ancotil): new contraindication in patients with DPD deficiency

Flucytosine is a prodrug of 5-fluorouracil used to treat systemic yeast and fungal infections and can cause life-threatening and severe toxicity in patients with complete and partial dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPD) def…

Published: 2020-10-22T13:15:55Z
Niraparib (Zejula▼): reports of severe hypertension and posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES), particularly in early treatment

Increase the frequency of blood pressure monitoring to at least weekly for the first 2 months, and then monitor monthly for the first year and periodically thereafter during treatment, following recent reports of onset of se…

Published: 2020-10-22T13:15:44Z
Dolutegravir (Tivicay▼, Triumeq▼, Juluca▼): updated advice on increased risk of neural tube defects

Updated safety recommendations have been issued as part of the European review evaluating cases of neural tube defects in babies born to mothers who became pregnant while taking the HIV medicine dolutegravir.

Published: 2020-10-22T13:15:24Z