A shortage in commercial Boostrix supplies could threaten the drug's position as Australia's most widely-used whooping cough vaccine after its competitor revealed it had enough stock to support continuing demand for vaccinations against the disease.
Sanofi Pasteur today revealed to Pharmacy News that it had enough of its Adacel pertussis vaccine in stock to fill the gap left by the impending suspension of Boostrix supplies to pharmacies.
Boostrix manufacturer GSK announced yesterday that it had run out of private market stock indefinitely in the face of unprecedented demand, though it was certain to have supplies replenished by the end of the year.
Sanofi Pasteur franchise manager Jon Hayres said the company did not envisage running out of Adacel stock and would continue to supply pharmacies through wholesalers.
"We were to able to secure some additional doses to tie us over compared to GSK but we are also a newer product so we don't have the same market share as Boostrix and so it was a little easier," Mr Hayres told Pharmacy News.
"Like GSK we've experienced unprecedented demand as well but we were able to act fairly swiftly and our parent company was able to secure us a significant amount of the vaccine for Australia."