Fewer than 5,000 bottles of Turkish children’s medication purchased by Alberta made it to pharmacies

Open this photo in gallery:

Fewer than 5,000 bottles of the 1.5 million units of children’s pain relief medication procured by Alberta Premier Danielle Smith from Turkey last winter were ever distributed to community pharmacies – another indication that the government’s $75-million deal to address pediatric drug shortages last winter was costly and ineffective.

Ms. Smith announced the deal with Istanbul-based Atabay Pharmaceuticals last December when shelves were picked bare of children’s ibuprofen and acetaminophen across Canada amid a surge in respiratory illnesses.

Only 1.5 million of the five million bottles purchased by the government were ever delivered to Alberta, and of those, just 4,700 bottles made it to community pharmacies, according to Alberta Health Services (AHS) spokesperson Kerry Williamson. The statement, provided on Monday, came after more than a dozen media requests over the past month, by e-mail and phone, sent to AHS and the Alberta government.

Last month, The Globe and Mail reported that only 9,000 units of the Turkish medication were distributed to hospitals before the health authority ordered its staff, in July, to stop using the weaker-strength product. In total, less than 1 per cent of the 1.5 million bottles were ever distributed from storage facilities for retail or hospital use, and even less was likely actually used to treat sick children.

Ms. Smith has defended the deal repeatedly, even after The Globe reported that it is unlikely that Alberta will ever receive the outstanding 3.5 million units of medication ordered, despite already paying tens of millions of dollars. Health Canada said it will not approve further shipments unless there is another critical shortage of fever-reducing drugs for children, which industry experts have said is not expected.

The Premier, on Tuesday, reiterated that the deal was right for Alberta.

“Although distribution took longer than hoped, we needed to act quickly to ease the burden on kids and families. We stand by the decision made last fall to act and obtain much-needed supply to support families and feel confident that if we find ourselves in a shortage again, Alberta will be prepared,” said Ms. Smith, echoing previous statements.

She added that the province continues to work with Atabay to “explore options” to fulfill the remainder of the contract. This could include other products manufactured by Atabay such as medical supplies or medications “should they be required.”

The province previously planned to offset the cost of the $75-million deal (previously estimated at $80-million) by selling the medication to other provinces, but none have expressed interest in making purchases. Alberta was required to purchase the minimum of five million units set by Atabay when it entered into the agreement last year.

The deal was marred by setbacks almost immediately after it was announced on Dec. 6, 2022.

Government officials, at that time, said they were confident it would only take a matter of weeks for pharmacies to be stocked with Atabay products following Health Canada approval.

The federal agency has an approval process to ensure foreign medications comply with the country’s safety, quality and efficacy standards – and it took Atabay longer than expected to meet those standards. Ms. Smith pointed to labelling and childproof caps as reasons for delay, followed by quarantine requirements when they finally touched down in the province.

A combined 1.25 million bottles of children’s acetaminophen and ibuprofen arrived in Alberta between March and May for retail use. But the respiratory crisis had already subsided by that time and domestic supply was rebounding, which meant parents or guardians could choose more familiar options. A drug supply notice posted by Health Canada said the shortage officially ended in April.

Distribution of the medications was further hampered by the requirement that pharmacists keep them behind the counter to alert parents to their weaker concentration and different dosing requirements.

The other 250,000 bottles of Atabay medication approved for importation to Alberta arrived in January for hospital use only, having been subject to less strict requirements by Health Canada. On July 10, AHS ordered hospital staff to transition back to using familiar higher-strength liquid acetaminophen, instead of the Atabay version, because the shortage had been resolved.

Alberta’s stock of Atabay ibuprofen will expire in November, 2025, and acetaminophen in January, 2026.

David Shepherd, New Democratic Party health critic, said Albertans are rightly outraged by the deal and said Ms. Smith owes the public a better explanation why she thought it was prudent to spend $75-million, during a cost-of-living crisis, on products that never arrived. Mr. Shepherd said the mismanaged deal also speaks to larger issues of trust with the United Conservative Party.

“The UCP is incompetent, that’s the bottom line,” he said in a statement. “A party that can’t place an order for children’s Tylenol without losing $80-million and getting no Tylenol cannot be trusted to reorganize our health care, protect our pensions, or really do anything at all.”