Sma Althera - prescription only?

[omgwth]

My baby (7 weeks) has been prescribed SMA Althera. Silly question but I can't find it for sale in supermarkets. Is it only available via prescription?

Thanks

If it's been prescribed then you'll need to get it from a pharmacy surely, with said prescription? If you have been told to buy it, you'll need to ask at a pharmacy for them to order it.

If its a prescription you'd need to go to the chemist. It costs over £20 for 400g!

It may be slightly cheaper than £20 from other online pharmacies but it's certainly not cheap

Thank you, I've just picked up the first prescription, Saw the size of the tin and realised it's not something I can just pop to tesco for.

Will see how she gets on and speak to doc about repeat prescription

Seems obvious now you've said it! I blame lack of sleep

Omg just seen the price of it online!

The cheapest is about £15/£16 for a 400g tin which is half the size of a normal tin

It's an extensively hydrolysed formula for babies with CMPA. All of them are prescription only. Meaning free to you, OP, as prescriptions are free for children.
It's normal for GPs to prescribe a small quantity to check your child will actually drink it, and to test whether it makes a difference to your child's symptoms. Once you know it's the milk for you, go back to GP and explain how much you need and how often and they'll prescribe it regularly. If you need a different one, there are many brands out there so ask GP for an alternative to try.

@HiCandles thank you for writing out the process for me, that's so helpful and I know what to do now!

From experience be on the ball with ordering repeat prescriptions as it's not usually an item which any pharmacy will readily keep in stock so will have to specially ordered each time for dispensing.

What @CCLCECSC said. My little one was prescribed soya which is £18/£19 a tin in supermarket. I'd always have to pre order 3-4 days in advance as they never had it in pharmacy, it had to ordered specifically