Long time suffering: cold & flu meds in short supply

Just as cold and flu season descends upon us, your favourite cold and flu medication may no longer be on store shelves – and you might not see it again until next spring.

These are brands that many people are used to: household names like Neocitran, Buckley’s Cough Syrup, Triaminic, Excedrin and Otrivin. A drug company called Novartis is behind all those names.

Last January its Nebraska plant – which supplies Canada – was cited by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for quality control problems: things like chipped and broken pills, and packaging problems that may have resulted in mixed tablets.

There is no longer any safety issue with the products, but the plant is being upgraded and now operations and shipments have stopped. There are no more of these drugs coming into stores, and many of them have sold out.

Video: Lisa Hepfner reports: