Presence of blocked needles in some ranibizumab (Lucentis®) injection administration packs (Lot numbers: S0043, S0047, S0049A, S0049)

Novartis Pharma would like to inform healthcare professionals that it has received complaints of the Becton-Dickinson (BD) Mircrolance 3 injection needles (contained within the Lucentis® injection administration pack) being blocked. There were 3 reports of bacterial endophthalmitis temporally associated with the occurrence of the blocked needles. The issue concerns the needle batch numbers 100224 and 100609 found within Lucentis® packs of lot numbers: S0043, S0047, S0049A, S0049. Healthcare professionals are advised not to use the needles provided in these lots of Lucentis® administration packs.

Only abstracts of the Dear Healthcare Professional Letters (DHCPL) are provided on this website. Details of these letters can be found in the MOH Alert System, which is accessible via the Health Professionals Portal (HPP), a one-stop portal for all healthcare professionals in Singapore. Dentists, medical doctors and pharmacists may access HPP at https://hpp.moh.gov.sg and follow the procedures below to access the MOH Alert system.

Step 1: Select your profession under ‘For Healthcare Professionals’.

Step 2: Click on ‘Useful links’.

Step 3: Click on ‘MOH Alert’ and log in via Singpass.

Step 4: Click on ‘Drug Alerts’ or ‘Med Device Alerts’ to view the DHCPLs.