Pharmaceuticals
Important Reminder: The FDA has no requirements for labeling of the gluten risk in any medication. Errors sometimes occur on the lists below, drug formulation changes, or the suppliers of ingredients change.
The best way to determine if a drug is gluten free is to call the company yourself or have a pharmacist do so. The Wheaton list provides phone numbers for some of the pharmaceutical companies. Otherwise, you may have to "Google" it once you have determined who the manufacturer is. Your pharmacist can determine who the manufacturer is for you. Unfortunately, often the manufacturers of generic drugs do not have as easily determined information as name-brand.
- www.GlutenFreeDrugs.com. This site is maintained by clinical pharmacist Steve Plogsted.
- Wheaton GF support group's medlist: A 35-page document that lists medications, nutritional products, and vitamins. They also provide a list of drug companies that have a policy of producing all gluten-free drugs. To access this PDF, go to homepage.mac.com/sholland/celiac/ and scan to the bottom of the page where it says "A list of gluten-free medications". Note that it was last updated in 2007.
- Walgreens: A link to a PDF of their over-the-counter products gluten-free drugs can be found on the www.glutenfreedrugs.com site on the Home page.
- Pfizer provides an online list of their GF drugs.
- Clanthompson.com lists gluten-free prescription drugs by function. Go to "resources", and then "free info lists". Clan Thompson sells a more extensive list of GF drugs through its drug Smartlist software and its Pocket Guide to Prescription Drugs pamphlet.
- CVS pharmacies has a data base of their GF over-the-counter products.
They will look up specific products for you at 888-607-4287, Customer Relations. You will need to give them the item number of the product you are interested in.
- Rite-Aid brand: " Rite Aid's web
site has an excellent email service where you can tell them the
pharmacy product (name, strength, UPC number (located under the
barcode), lot number (located next to the expiration date), and
expiration date, and they'll look into it and get back to you." Brenda to SillyYak site 9/08
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Discussion in February 2009 by Beth Hillson, Founder of the Gluten Free Pantry and President of the American Celiac Disease Alliance (ACDA)
"Your pharmacist has access to a large resource book called “Physicians Desk
Reference” or PDR. Every medication (prescription and OTC) is listed along with a consumer
number to call with questions. I highly suggest you contact the drug manufacturer directly and
verify the gluten-free status of any drug you are taking. Even the minute amounts in a pill, taken
regularly, can cause problems. Note, you can also go to www.pdrhealth.com to find out the
manufacturer of a particular medication. I did not find phone numbers on their site, however, so
you might need to search further on the internet.
As for the FDA, they have not tackled the
medication issue as yet. A couple of years ago, the American Celiac Disease Alliance introduce a
bill to include such disclosure, but the bill did not pass. The Alliance keeps working on that issue as
it is a big concern for so many. Meanwhile, the good news is that more and more vitamins and
supplements are voluntarily labeling their products as “gluten-free” and “contains no wheat or
gluten.” I think you’ll see drug companies following suit."
