What is a "SPECIAL" ?

A “Special” is a non-licensed medicine prescribed by the doctor to meet the special needs of an individual patient, when the licensed medicine cannot be used.
The doctors prescribe “specials” for various reasons:
-the patient cannot swallow tablets and a tailor made, liquid alternative has to be prescribed
-the patient is allergic to certain drugs excipients and a special medicine without those excipients is required
-the child cannot tolerate certain flavours in a licensed medicine; prescribing a “Special” with an alternative flavour aims to increase compliance
-a non-standard strength or concentration of licensed medicine is needed for certain medical conditions
-a licensed product is discontinued or temporarily unavailable