Vets advised to prioritise isoflurane use

The UK’s biggest supplier of isoflurane anaesthetic gas has issued a statement to explain a serious shortage of product that may affect veterinary practices until March 2019.

Zoetis, which supplies approximately two thirds of the UK’s total isoflurane anaesthetic gas needs with IsoFlo, has also suggested how practices can eke out the remaining stocks.

The statement said: “During the coming weeks our advice to customers and the veterinary market is as follows:

1. During this limited stock situation, we would suggest practices prioritise any existing supplies of IsoFlo for emergency procedures. Veterinary surgeons might consider if routine procedures can be postponed until practices have access to further supplies in February/March.
2. For current SevoFlo users, we are working with wholesalers to supply your normal demand for SevoFlo. We realise your demand may increase in light of the IsoFlo issue, so we will continue to monitor and support this supply to the best of our abilities. Zoetis aims to keep you informed via your wholesaler. In this case too, we would ask vets to consider postponing routine surgeries until you have a suitable supply of SevoFlo or, if needed, human licensed Sevoflurane. Please note, due to limited stocks of SevoFlo vaporisers, it is unlikely we will be able to supply additional vaporisers at this time.
3. For current IsoFlo users, we are aware many practices would like to switch to SevoFlo immediately. Despite sourcing additional supplies of SevoFlo for the UK, the current availability of SevoFlo vaporisers is extremely limited. Therefore, we would suggest, where possible, practices with multiple branches or a network should consider nominating a surgical hub as the primary provider of surgical procedures, and, thus, reduce the need for multiple vaporisers. We would ask that customers interested in using SevoFlo should flag this in the first instance with their Zoetis account manager so we may co-ordinate available SevoFlo stocks and vaporisers on a practice by practice basis.”

Impact

The statement continued: “We are acutely aware of the impact this situation may have on practices and the amount of concern it is causing our customers and the wider veterinary market.

“Please be aware Zoetis is working across its entire organisation and with stakeholders during this market-wide challenge to expedite the return of IsoFlo to the market. In the meantime, we thank you for your patience and we will continue our communications with you and wider partners as we work on supplying all available product to your wholesalers.”

• Click here to read the full statement.