The National Medicines Agency’s plan to avoid shortages this winter

This is to avoid reliving the situation of last winter. While France was facing a triple epidemic of Covid, bronchiolitis and flu, it was difficult to find amoxicillin or Doliprane. This year, the National Medicines Agency is therefore taking the lead and launched its anti-shortage plan on Tuesday October 3, which sometimes provides for drastic measures.

>> Understanding the shortage of medicines in France

The Minister of Health, Aurélien Rousseau, promised it on France Inter: “We have stocks of amoxicillin for the winter”. The medicines agency will do everything to ensure this by monitoring, day by day, the evolution of stocks in pharmacies. She plans to track four types of medications: antibiotics such as amoxicillin, paracetamol, anti-asthmatics and corticosteroids that are swallowed.

During the winter of 2022-2023, several drugs such as certain antibiotics – notably amoxicillin -, corticosteroids and paracetamol, suffered periods of more or less long supply tensions, in a context of the triple Covid-19 epidemic. flu-bronchiolitis. To avoid a repeat of these difficulties, the former Minister of Health, François Braun, instructed the medicines agency in February to establish a preparation plan for winter epidemics.

Three indicators to watch

The plan will be based on three types of indicators which should make it possible to assess all the dimensions of the situation: epidemiological data from Public Health France, data from the ANSM on supplies and field data (via professionals health and patients).

If the agency detects a risk of shortage on one of the products, it can prohibit exports, but also reduce the doses delivered to pharmacies and force laboratories to go through wholesalers, in other words prohibit them from selling directly or still have blood pressure medications manufactured by community pharmacies which are capable of doing so or by hospital pharmacies.