Aspirin 500 mg tablets - have they been banned in Thailand ?

[ukrules]

I started reading reports of people having problems finding 'headache dose 500mg' aspirin tablets sometime last year.

 

I had just purchased a full box of them at that point and paid little attention to the issue.

 

However each time I went into a pharmacy I always asked about the availability of these Bayer Aspirin and the various pharmacists who I'm familiar with all told me that they are no longer available.

 

They did not know why, the distributors they use appear to have simply stopped selling them.

 

There must be some reason behind this and I would like to know what it is. Does anyone know ?

 

Has it been banned ? Like I mentioned I've been monitoring this since well into last year and the pharmacists I've spoken to told me that maybe in the new year it will become available again. When I followed up with them and suggested that perhaps there is some issue with the FDA they just shrugged their shoulders and did not know or care either way.

 

Something is happening, it's just not clear what it is at the moment.

[Sheryl]

Please see the other recent threads on this (do a search in he forum).

 

Bayer brand is temporarily off the shelves, apparently they are re-branding or something and as the pharmacist indicated it will eventually be back.

 

There are plenty of other brands of aspirin that are still easily obtained...provided one goes to a real pharmacy, not the small pharmacy counter at a Boots or Watsons. Those  often only carry Bayer and thus will have nothing at present.

[bangkokorbust]

Probably some punk kids took a hundred and got high and posted it on line. That's what happened with tramadol and boom its banned

Sent from my Redmi Note 3 using Tapatalk

[lopburi3]

Believe you would be more likely to find 325mg size if that would serve your needs.  325mg and 81mg seem to be most common here.

[ukrules]

I popped into the Fascino pharmacy ( a proper pharmacy I think ?) a few days ago and they told me that Aspirin is no longer available in Thailand unless it's in the small doses.

 

She spoke good English so I asked her why this is happening. She said that she had no idea at all and that it's been this way for a long time now.

 

This was the Market village, Hua Hin branch.

 

Aspirin has been pulled form retail sale in Thailand and nobody seems to know why.

 

 

Edited May 29, 2017 by ukrules

[lopburi3]

Since the link to Reye syndrome Aspirin has walked on the bad side of the street and it seems doctors withdraw rather than prescribe.  It is blamed for any internal bleeding and considered a major risk factor for such.  As it is cheap (or should be) there really are no funds being used to support it among drug makers so probably better for them to market other products with better income potential here.   

[Gumballl]

On 3/9/2017 at 8:18 AM, lopburi3 said:

Believe you would be more likely to find 325mg size if that would serve your needs.  325mg and 81mg seem to be most common here.

Why wouldn't a tablet with a smaller dosage not serve one's needs?  I'm sure the pharmacist would sell more than just one tablet, perhaps even a bottle full.  Just figure out how many to take at any given time to reach the 500mg dosage.  It's not rocket science.

 

That being said, I would not recommend taking too much aspirin unless you know what you are doing.  If it is for pain, then there are better medicines.

[Farma]

@ukrules
I think what you were told isn't quite correct. I was in a pharmacists wholesale warehouse (where pharmacists buy their stock) only a few weeks ago and there was plenty of aspirin in various sizes on the shelves.

My close friend a pharmacist tells me there isn't restrictions on aspirin.

[Rob13]

13 minutes ago, Farma said:

My close friend a pharmacist tells me there isn't restrictions on aspirin.

 

Yet, you can't find the 500mg Bayers anywhere anymore. Somethings going on.

Edited May 30, 2017 by Rob13

[nausea]

Eighty-one mg are now prescription only according to my local pharmacist but she said she could order normal strength; having said that another local pharmacy continues to sell 81 mg. All this was some weeks ago. 

[impulse]

Point blank asked my cardiologist about it and he said Thai's use Ibuprofen and Paracetomol (sp?) instead of aspirin so there's no market for 375 and 500 mg.  I asked him what they suggest people do immediately when they think they've had a stroke or heart attack, and he said to take the 81 mg aspirin.

 

Personally, I suspect collusion among big Pharma, especially every time I pay out the wazoo for Plavix for a blood thinner. 

 

 

 

[Sheryl]

 
Yet, you can't find the 500mg Bayers anywhere anymore. Somethings going on.

Not being able to find Bayers brand and not being able to find aspirin are different matters.

[ukrules]

1 hour ago, Sheryl said:

 

Not being able to find Bayers brand and not being able to find aspirin are different matters.

Agreed, however I was told just a few days ago by a pharmacist in Fascino that Aspirin is not available in Thailand because Bayer stopped selling them, she could only offer ibuprofen and paracetamol and 81 mg aspirin. There were no alternative brands available.

 

Being an old out of patent drug usually means there's lots of different manufacturers and it would be widely available, not here in Hua Hin though.

 

Edited May 30, 2017 by ukrules

[tifino]

oh well!   "...take 6 and a half * 81mg, and see me in the morning"

[Sheryl]

1 hour ago, ukrules said:

Agreed, however I was told just a few days ago by a pharmacist in Fascino that Aspirin is not available in Thailand because Bayer stopped selling them, she could only offer ibuprofen and paracetamol and 81 mg aspirin. There were no alternative brands available.

 

Being an old out of patent drug usually means there's lots of different manufacturers and it would be widely available, not here in Hua Hin though.

 

 

As posted previously, there are other brands, still on the market.

[Gary A]

I tried to buy aspirin in Boots Pharmacy and was told that I needed a prescription. I finally found some 300 mg. Now my doctor told me that the 81 mg were big enough. 

[kuma]

I have a penchant for Nurofen as I find it works well for me. Recently (this year) have not been able to find any, and every pharmacy.just says they don't have it anymore, but offer other ibu alts like Gofen...

Has a problem occurred between big pharna and Thailand resulting in bid brands pulling their wares from the shelves?

[Sheryl]

3 hours ago, kuma said:

I have a penchant for Nurofen as I find it works well for me. Recently (this year) have not been able to find any, and every pharmacy.just says they don't have it anymore, but offer other ibu alts like Gofen...

Has a problem occurred between big pharna and Thailand resulting in bid brands pulling their wares from the shelves?

 

Of course not. But it costs money to maintain product registration here and companies are apt to stop doing so for products that do not sell well. And pharmacies are likely to stop stocking drugs that don't sell well, likewise.

AFAIK Nurofen is still on the market here but of course it is far more expensive than the many locally made brands of the same drug and hence not such a big seller.  Quite likely many pharmacies stop ordering it for this reason.

[orchis]

I went to Boots in Bangkok and they asked a prescription for aspirin 81 mg, 2 different locations

[Sheryl]

Try an actual pharmacy, not a Boots or Watsons.

[balo]

The local street pharmacies sell Aspirin , and cheaper than Boots. 

[vogie]

On 2017-5-30 at 4:57 PM, Sheryl said:

 

As posted previously, there are other brands, still on the market.

Is paracetamol different to aspirin Sheryl, I had no problem today buying paracetamol from the local chemist?

[lopburi3]

8 hours ago, vogie said:

Is paracetamol different to aspirin Sheryl, I had no problem today buying paracetamol from the local chemist?

It is acetaminophen - which most of us know as Tylenol.  Not aspirin/acetylsalicylic acid (ASA).

[David B in Thailand]

I was not able to buy Bayer 325mg aspirin in Buriram today. I was able to purchase 1000 enteric coated aspirin tablets of 300mg Ranbaxy brand "Aspent" for 650 baht at a well stocked Buriram pharmacy near Bangkok Bank. Previously I had been misinformed at many Boots pharmacies and Watsons over the zero stock of aspirin at those stores. 

[tonray]

Recently I was able to buy 81 mg at PF Drug. Boots / Watson had nothing. Oh the Boots pharmacist tried to sell me Alka Seltzer with 324 Mg aspirin instead....ha ha. She said that was the same, Mai Bpen Rai...not worry.

[ukrules]

3 hours ago, David B in Thailand said:

I was not able to buy Bayer 325mg aspirin in Buriram today. I was able to purchase 1000 enteric coated aspirin tablets of 300mg Ranbaxy brand "Aspent" for 650 baht at a well stocked Buriram pharmacy near Bangkok Bank. Previously I had been misinformed at many Boots pharmacies and Watsons over the zero stock of aspirin at those stores. 

 

I'm looking for some of these Aspent, the pharmacist who had them in stock told me that she's finding it difficult to get more of any Aspirin.

 

I have a list of all brands available in Thailand which I will take to her the next time I go.

 

I have a theory that most of them only have old stock which is now becoming depleted.

 

Also this greedy pharmacist sells these for 2 Baht each !

Edited August 24, 2017 by ukrules

[fforest1]

I just went to 5 pharmacys in Pattaya and asked for Aspirin...Any kind of Aspirin,farang or Thai made...

None of them had Aspirin of any kind and I do mean absolutely zero Aspirin for sale...

 

Whats going on??

The Aspirin situation in Thailand has been getting worse and worse for a few years now..And now no Aspirin at all?

Edited September 27, 2017 by fforest1

[johng]

I've also had no luck finding 500mg aspirin in Pattaya.
One shop did say they had low dose 80mg tablets for "heart conditions" secreted away in a draw behind the counter like it was a class A drug with matching high price.
I have a thoery about the governments "green book of approved drugs" which was in the news a while ago but got no feed back when I asked the question here.
My theory is that for some reason 500mg aspirin which was primarily of the Bayer brand did not pass whatever was needed to get into the "green book" and so can't be sold ?

[fforest1]

http://www.hsa.gov.sg/content/hsa/en/Health_Products_Regulation/Safety_Information_and_Product_Recalls/Dear_Healthcare_Professional_Letters/2017/drug-shortage-ofbayeraspirintablet500mg.html

 

Please note that only an abstract of the Dear Healthcare Professional Letter (DHCPL) is provided here. For instructions on how to access the entire DHCPL, please click here.

Bayer (South East Asia) Pte. Ltd. would like to inform healthcare professionals of a drug shortage with Bayer Aspirin Tablet 500mg (SIN05362P). During its regular stability studies, Bayer recently became aware that in some instances, Bayer Aspirin Tablet 500mg may not fully meet the specifications set in place for this product. As a precautionary measure, Bayer has decided to temporarily stop the manufacturing and distribution of Bayer Aspirin Tablet 500mg until measures have been initiated to ensure that the product’s out-of specification results has been addressed. Healthcare professionals are advised to consider switching patients on Bayer Aspirin Tablet 500mg to an alternative therapies/treatment options due to the shortage of supply. Please refer to the letter for details.

 

 

This does not explain the lack of all other Aspirin in Thailand....

[tonray]

Deleted

Edited September 28, 2017 by tonray
Dup