Amoxicillin and cortisone are among the drugs affected by the shortage. There are occasional ruptures and others “which are long-term and there, it becomes dramatic”, said Thursday the president of the Union of Community Pharmacists’ Unions.
Pierre-Olivier Variot, president of the Union of Unions of Community Pharmacists (USPO) and pharmacist in Plombières-lès-Dijon in Côte-d’Or, announced Thursday October 26 on franceinfo that “nearly 4,000 medications” are currently in shortage or at risk of rupture in France. Among these medications, we find antibiotics and even antidiabetics. According to him, relocating the production of certain molecules could, in part, solve the problem.
franceinfo: Which drugs are currently being affected by shortages?
Pierre-Olivier Variot: At the moment, amoxicillin, which is a widely prescribed antibiotic, but there is also cortisone, these are winter medications. Lots of medications such as anti-cancer drugs, anti-hypertensives, analgesics, anti-diabetics. We have nearly 4,000 medications [en rupture ou risque de rupture] Today. We have occasional breakups, which will last a month, two months, some maybe longer. But we also have breakups that are long-term and then it becomes dramatic.
Compared to last year, at the same time, how do we compare?
Compared to all the molecules, we are roughly the same, but they are not necessarily the same. Compared to amoxicillin, there is a great paradox. The ANSM tells us that there are between three and five months of stock among manufacturers. Wholesalers, who are the intermediary between wholesalers and pharmacies, do not have stock, and pharmacies have very, very variable stocks. So there is a big disparity in terms of supply and it is not normal for manufacturers to stock up. They must be released as quickly as possible so that they can be presented in pharmacies.
Do you notice the same gaps in France or are there disparities between regions?
Overall, they are the same everywhere, but it may be that a pharmacy still has stock because it has not yet dispensed it, but it will not be able to recommend it once it has dispensed it.
Why have we been here since Covid? Is global demand too strong? Are we too dependent on China, which prefers to keep the medicines it produces?
It’s a bit of all that, but it started a little before Covid, it’s been ten years since we started to see shortages. The first reason is when there is a mismatch between production and needs. Typically, this is what we experienced last year with paracetamol. It can also be when a drug does not pass a test, this means that an entire batch will be withdrawn. But there is also, and here, I have no explanation, a part of the medicines which evaporate, which disappear, between the industrial and the pharmacies, and there, I don’t know where it goes, and no one has the answer. We keep asking the question to the Medicines Agency, to bring transparency into the circuit.
In June, Emmanuel Macron announced the relocation of the production of around fifty essential drugs. Can this get us out of the crisis?
This will probably get us out of the crisis, but only for these drugs. But indeed, relocation and the fact that we are not dependent on other nations for the production of essential medicines is fundamental.