Six more medicines added to the UK's 'do not export' list from today
What happened
On 29 September 2026, the Department of Health and Social Care updated its official list of medicines that cannot be exported from the UK or hoarded. Six medicines were added. The restriction on all six began on 30 September 2026. The best known is levothyroxine tablets. Levothyroxine is the standard treatment for an underactive thyroid, and it is taken every day by a very large number of people across the UK. The other five are used in cancer care: - pentostatin, a powder made up into an injection - topotecan, given as a drip - cytarabine, given as an injection - idarubicin, given as an injection - mesna, which is given alongside some chemotherapy to protect the bladder With these six added, the list now covers 38 medicines. Others already on it include aspirin, co-codamol, ramipril, semaglutide, rifampicin and several medicines used for ADHD. The rule is aimed at the supply chain, not at patients. It tells wholesalers and pharmacies that they must not sell these medicines abroad, and must not build up stock beyond what they normally need.
Why this matters
Medicines are traded across borders. If a medicine costs more in another country, a UK wholesaler can make money by buying it here and selling it there. That is legal for most products. It is called parallel export. The problem is what happens when supply is already tight. Every box sent abroad is a box that is not on a shelf in Lincolnshire, or Leeds, or Llandudno. So the government keeps a list of medicines that may not leave the country. Levothyroxine being added is the part most people will notice. If you take it, you take it every single day, usually for life. Missing doses is not a small thing. It can leave you tired, cold, low in mood and foggy in your thinking, and it can take weeks to settle again once you restart. The five cancer medicines are given in hospital, so patients do not order them themselves. But they matter just as much. Chemotherapy runs to a timetable, and a delay caused by stock problems is a delay in treatment. There is a second, quieter point in the wording. The rule bans hoarding as well as exporting. Hoarding is what happens when worry spreads and everyone tries to get a bit extra at once. Shelves that would have coped end up empty. That applies to households as much as to warehouses.
What the evidence actually says
It is worth being careful about what this list does and does not tell us. The restriction is a legal control on wholesalers and pharmacies. The government publishes the medicine, the strength, the form and the date the restriction started. It does not publish a reason next to each entry. So being added to the list does not automatically mean your pharmacy will be out of levothyroxine tomorrow. It is a protective measure. Sometimes it is used because supply is already under strain. Sometimes it is used to stop a problem before it starts. The dates on the list show this is routine, ongoing housekeeping rather than a sudden emergency. Aspirin was added in January 2026. Ramipril was added in August. Raltitrexed was added on 10 September. Estradiol has been on the list since 2019. It is also fair to say the wider picture is not comfortable. Pharmacy bodies in the UK have been reporting supply problems across a range of everyday medicines for some time, and this latest update sits against that background. What has changed today is not the mood, but the law: six more products that cannot legally leave the country.
Qurexa perspective
We deliver prescriptions, so supply is not an abstract subject for us. When a medicine is hard to get, we are the ones ringing round, checking wholesalers and calling surgeries. Two things we have learned are worth passing on. The first is that ordering in good time beats ordering in bulk. A repeat request placed about a week before you run out gives a pharmacy room to solve a problem quietly. A request placed on your last tablet does not. The second is that most supply problems are solved without the patient ever hearing about them. If your pharmacy cannot get a product, it is usually able to find another supplier, another brand or an equivalent strength, in discussion with your prescriber. Please do ask, rather than going without.
Practical advice
If you take levothyroxine: - Carry on taking it exactly as prescribed. Nothing about this rule changes your dose. - Order your repeat prescription around a week before your current supply runs out. - Do not ask for extra "just in case". Hoarding is precisely what this rule is designed to prevent, and it makes shortages worse for everyone. - If you are offered a different brand, ask the pharmacist to talk you through it. Never change your own dose to make a supply stretch further. - If you have missed doses because you could not get your prescription, tell your GP practice or pharmacist. If you or someone you care for is having chemotherapy, there is nothing you need to do. These medicines are ordered and given by the hospital team. If you are worried about your treatment dates, your clinical nurse specialist is the person to ask. For everyone else, the general rule holds: order on time, keep your repeat list up to date, and speak to your pharmacist early if something looks wrong.
What to know
Six medicines were added on 29 September 2026 to the UK list of products that cannot be exported or hoarded, with the restriction starting on 30 September. They are levothyroxine tablets and five injectable medicines used in cancer care: pentostatin, topotecan, cytarabine, idarubicin and mesna. The list now holds 38 medicines. The rule binds wholesalers and pharmacies, not patients. It is a protective step to keep stock in the country, and it is not in itself an announcement that a shortage has begun. The most useful thing any of us can do is order repeat prescriptions on time and resist the urge to stockpile. Sources: Department of Health and Social Care, "Medicines that you cannot export from the UK or hoard", updated 29 September 2026, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/medicines-that-cannot-be-parallel-exported-from-the-uk. Department of Health and Social Care, "List of medicines that cannot be exported from the UK or hoarded" (list dated 29 September 2026), https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6abb950ef7702c86e39f513e/restricted-medicines-list-29-september-2026.csv. NHS, "Levothyroxine", https://www.nhs.uk/medicines/levothyroxine/. This article is for general information and does not replace advice from a doctor, pharmacist or other qualified healthcare professional. Never change or stop a prescribed medicine without speaking to your prescriber first.
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