Expiry date - for customer or drug?

Stalevo 50mg was not available in the country at very short notice at the end of August. I was told that there was no further stock after the expiry date (31 August) and that the drug would be available next in mid October. In order to make sense of this situation, I called Novartis careline a number of times , once in early September to try to establish why the drug was suddenly unavailable and a few times in October hoping that the drug might just be available earlier than mid Oct. I called on Novartis on 4th and 6th October. Each time i was told that the drug was available to the pharmacies and each time the pharmacis told me that they had not received notification that the drug was available. On 10th October I was told by the person at the Novartis careline that they had been given the incorrect information and that the drug would be available in Gauteng on Friday 13th and in Cape Town early the following week ie week starting 16th October. On 11th October I was told by my pharmacist that the drug was still being tested and would be available from week starting 16th October. issue no 1: I enquired why this situation had arisen and was told by the spindoctor at Novartis that this was probably due to difficulty in obtaining raw materials required for manufacturing process, due to natural disasters. How on earth is a reasonably intelligent person able to give out such information to another reasonably intelligent person and expect this to be accepted as fact? Issue 2: Incorrect information is being given to the public (intentionally or) unintentionally which is unacceptable. I was told that the drug was available by 2 staff members of Novartis only to be told a day later that it was not. Issue 3: How did this situation arise ie that the drug has been unavailable for 6 weeks approx with no prior warning to users, neurologists and pharmacies who have had to scramble to find (un)satisfactory alternatives? This has been an extremely stressful time and stress is the no1 no-no for Parkinsons patients. And Novartis should know this. Issue 4: Why South Africa? were any other countries affected by this?

The key word throughout this has been communication - or lack thereof, and for a company with the profile of Novartis this is unacceptable.