Milk of Magnesia

Cakeycaz wrote: »

Hi, I've just brought 4 bottles from Chemist Direct (online).
Doesn't say its out of stock and was £3.39 which is about what I would pay at Sainsburys. Just hope I don't get an email saying not available because I've struggled to buy if in the last couple of months!

Glad you managed to find some. Site is still advertising it today. It is my mother who uses it & she has a couple of bottles but please post if the item comes through OK. I have now heard that Golden Eye Ointment is also out of stock at several chemists. Different manufacturer but I wonder if there is any connection? Distribution problems?

As far as I can make out GSK are selling/have sold this product and several others to Aspen Pharmacare. This is on the Aspen website (aspenpharma.com click on NewsRoom & scroll down to 20 April 2012 Press Release) but still can find nothing about when distribution will resume.

ASPEN ANNOUNCES MULTI-TERRITORY ACQUISITION OF GSK OTC PRODUCTS FOR R2.1 BILLION

The Products:
The products comprise well established OTC brands of proven performance. The main areas of therapeutic treatment of the products are analgesic, gastro-intestinal and respiratory. Other areas covered include dermatology, infant care, vitamins and minerals. The leading products are recognised household brands such as Phillips Milk of Magnesia, Dequadin, Solpadeine, Cartia, Zantac and Borstol.

In terms of the transactions the marketing and distribution of the products will transition from GSK to Aspen over periods of time varying by country. Existing manufacturing arrangements for the products will be assumed by Aspen.

I'm still trying to find this, and notice one site now sayes back in stock from 13th oct.

Dolfijn wrote: »

Back in stock in Sainsburys & on their website. £2.75 for a 200ml bottle.

Glad to hear this! Hope it's not too long before it's on the shelves locally again, but it wasn't when I did the rounds at the end of last week.

I've used MoM for decades -- not frequently but don't like being without it, and only came across this shortage over the past few weeks when the current bottle was almost finished. As others have said, I haven't been able to get it from my usual sources (Tesco, Sainsburys, Boots).

Boots used to do their own-branded version, Cream of Magnesia in a clear glass bottle, which I think was very similar and worked for me but a good deal cheaper, so I'd moved over to that, but they seem to have discontinued it two or three years ago, which was a pity; so it was back to MoM.

Longer ago, what I always used to buy were MoM tablets, which I found much more convenient and also better value in the long run -- for the number of times I used them anyway. I know it must be the chalky nature of the magnesium, but what bugs me about MoM liquid is that whenever I use some, a lot of what runs back down into the bottle tends to stick to the sides and congeal to a paste, so as the contents go down and there's more air in the bottle, and despite shaking vigorously, less and less stays usable/pourable -- maybe that's why they use the blue bottle you can't see into, to tell how much

The tablets disappeared a few years ago -- really wish they'd bring them back, as there was no wastage and they were also really handy to pop into a bag or pocket to take anywhere.

When I asked the Boots pharmacist a couple of weeks ago if MoM had been discontinued she said no, but they'd been getting hardly any in for a while: just 2 or 3 bottles at a time now and then, which were snapped up straight away (the first MoM shopper in who saw it had generally bought them all, because of the shortage).

I asked if there was anything else with the same ingredients and she said there wasn't -- not exactly the same. I always have Gaviscon in too, but don't use it for the same thing -- great for the odd bit of reflux, but not for a slight nauseous feeling I sometimes have, which MoM settles straight away.