The PSNC have just released the top 10 disallowed items for July, their most recent month of EPS scripts. The top of the list reported with 136 rejected EPS prescriptions was cerumol olive oil eardrops.

Cerumol was available on prescription for years so has it been taken out of the tariff? Is it a new formulation?

Cerumol 11ml ear drops were classed as a Pharmacy product (P medicine) for many years. Its main ingredients were Arachis Oil Refined/Chlorobutanol Hemihydrate, which meant it was not appropriate for patients allergic to peanuts.

Thornton & Ross have advised information services that they have recently reformulated the product it is now:

• in a 10ml size no longer  11ml
• based on Olive Oil – Arachis Oil has been removed
• it has been reclassified as a medical device to meet certain standards and now bears a CE mark.

With it being re-classified as a medical device, it cannot be prescribed in community unless it is listed in the appliance section of the Drug Tariff.

At the time of writing this tariff tip the item is not listed in the appliance section of the Drug Tariff.

See also entry in the dictionary of medicines and devices:

Cerumol olive oil ear drops (Thornton & Ross Ltd) 10 ml

Attributes

Prescribing Information

 Appliance Product Information

SNOMED Information