Shortage of the drug Nadolol: AICARM requests the intervention of AIFA

The shortage of Nadolol in pharmacies is increasingly worrying doctors and patients and for this reason AICARM APS has decided to contact the director of the Italian Medicines Agency Domenico Di Giorgio to request urgent intervention. In a letter sent on 4 December 2023, President Franco Cecchi, together with the pharmacologist Alessandro Mugelli, asked AIFA to take action to ensure the availability of Nadolol in pharmacies (including by importing it from abroad) and to request its production from the Institute Military Pharmaceutical of Florence.

Nadolol is a lifesaver in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and genetic diseases associated with risk of sudden death from cardiac arrest, especially during conditions of physical and emotional stress. Since 8 September 2023 it has been included in the list of shortage medicines and only from 8 March 2024, according to AIFA, is a return to regular supply expected. Patients are therefore forced to order it in Switzerland or to obtain it as a galenic product in pharmacies that are able to prepare it, facing considerable costs. 

Responding to many reports that continue to arrive at AICARM through the Cuori in Ascolto telephone service or by email, the Presidency has decided to undertake various initiatives to address patients' anxiety. First of all, some pharmacies have been identified in various Italian cities capable of carrying out galenic preparation and in Switzerland the Merloni pharmacy in Chiasso (the list is continuously updated). For updates follow the link: Nadolol Updates. 

“There is also a potential risk to health – warn Cecchi and Mugelli in the letter to AIFA – who must abandon an effective and well-tolerated treatment, as documented by our many years of clinical experience, and possibly switch to a treatment with Propranolol with dosage adjustment that involves taking a large number of tablets”.