Expensive fuel and shortage of raw materials: drug alarm, even pediatrics are starting to lack

There is concern in pharmacies about the shortage of drugs that is occurring throughout the national territory.

More than 3 thousand medicines are missing, according to the latest data provided by the Italian Medicines Agency.

There is talk of real shortcomings but also of unavailability.

Not a small problem if you think that we are

. 

The types of drugs 

“The risk categories are varied, paracetamol, antidepressants, antibiotics.

The attention is high due to the lack of ibuprofen, especially the 600 and 800, and supply problems for the syrup version ”explains Marco Cossolo, national president of Federfama.

“

,” he explains. 

The causes

“There are several problems that overlap” adds Cossolo.

“First of all,

overuse especially in the first phase of the treatment of Covid 19, such as paracetamol.

The international crisis has also led to other difficulties such as the

necessary to produce bottles and caps (aluminum, glass, plastic for the packaging of medicines) but also the lack and price of the

necessary for the transport and refueling that in many cases it has led to a failure or postponement of deliveries.

Another aspect is the

(our National Health System allows us to buy medicines at a lower price than in other countries) which could have caused supply problems ". 

Shortage and unavailability of a drug

The "shortage" of a medicine, understood as difficulty or impossibility for the patient in finding it, is a phenomenon that can be temporary or permanent and can be determined by various problems, for example the unavailability of the active ingredient, problems related to production, regulatory measures, unexpected increase in requests for a particular medicine, or health emergencies.    

By "unavailable" we mean a medicine for which the difficulty of obtaining is not related to production problems, but to dysfunctions in the distribution chain.

Unavailability, unlike shortcomings, generally do not manifest themselves in a uniform manner on the national territory.

In these cases, therefore, the medicine is not available at some regional stores and / or pharmacies.  

Aifa constantly monitors, through specific procedures, the temporary unavailability of medicines on the national market, in particular those indispensable for the treatment of certain pathologies.

The response of the pharmacies

"The pharmacies were immediately activated and responded promptly" explains the national president of Federfarma "to make up for the lack of medicines they contributed with galenic preparations, as in the case of ibuprofen for pediatric use, prepared by the pharmacist and purchased by citizens without the need for a prescription.

Galenic 

 in order not to make patients lack the medicines they need.

This initiative once again underlines the central role of the pharmacy as a health center and in the preparation of the drug to manage shortcomings, similarly to what we did with the disinfectant gel during the first phase of the pandemic ”.