Cialis Together (10mg tadalafil citrate) tablets will be available over-the-counter from over 1,300 bricks-and-mortar Boots pharmacies across the UK from June 13, Boots announced on Tuesday (June 6).
The product has been available to buy without a prescription from Boots’ website since Tuesday, it added.
Boots claimed to be “the first pharmacy to offer erectile dysfunction treatment Cialis Together without a prescription”, although it added that the product “continues to be available to patients on the NHS who obtain a prescription from their prescriber”.
Read more: MHRA reclassifies erectile dysfunction tablets for OTC pharmacy purchase
The multiple is charging £21.99 for a pack of four tablets and £37 for a pack of eight, with 10% off until September 12, it said.
And it said that patients will have to complete a consultation with a pharmacist to make sure the drug is suitable for them before they can buy it from their pharmacy.
Meanwhile, purchasing the product from Boots’ website is subject to an online consultation, the multiple clarified.
POM to P switch
In March, C+D reported that Cialis Together tablets had been reclassified by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) from a prescription-only medicine (POM) to a pharmacy-only (P) medicine.
At the time, the MHRA clarified that the medicine would be permitted to be dispensed without a prescription to men over 18 with erectile dysfunction following a “discussion” with a pharmacist.
Read more: Viagra Connect sales soar following pharmacy launch
The medicines watchdog said Cialis Together would be available through pharmacies without a prescription with a maximum dose of one tablet each day and a maximum pack size of eight tablets.
However, other medicines containing tadalafil would still be available to obtain on prescription, it added.
Erectile dysfunction treatments have been available to purchase in pharmacies since 2018, when Viagra Connect (sildenafil 50 mg tablets) was first reclassified with a P legal status, according to the MHRA.
Read more: Boots pharmacies to sell own-brand Viagra and vaginal health products
However, Cialis Together marked the first application for a tadalafil product to be available as a P medicine, the MHRA said in March.
Cialis Together “will not be sold to those with severe cardiovascular disorders; at high cardiovascular risk; severe kidney or severe liver failure; or taking certain interacting medicines”, the medicines watchdog added at the time.
Use of the treatment in these groups should instead “continue to be under the supervision of a doctor”, it specified.
