Minister Schillaci initiates checks on drug shortages – Health

A permanent working table, checks and measures to stop the shortage of medicines. This is the response of the Minister of Health Orazio Schillaci to a problem “which has reached levels never seen even in the midst of the Covid emergency” according to the distributors. Over 3,000 specialties are temporarily missing, including many in common use, from Brufen to Tachipirina. A shortage on which the boom in Covid cases in China weighs but perhaps also speculation phenomena. While the appeal of pharmacists is to “avoid hoarding”, the companies “are making every effort to guarantee production”, assures Farmindustria.

The line of the Ministry of Health is to identify the medicines that show a real shortage, provide with short- and medium-term response interventions to promptly meet the needs of citizens and define communication activities. Finally, the goal is also to avoid alarmism and consequent unjustified buying rushes. This was explained by the Minister of Health Orazio Schillaci himself during the first meeting of the permanent table, which sees the participation of representatives of the Italian Medicines Agency (Aifa) and of the pharmaceutical supply chain, as well as Nas and doctors.

“We were hoping for an institutional intervention because we had already started reporting this phenomenon 4 months ago and the situation is now unsustainable. We have not seen the phenomena of drug shortages that we see now, not even in the midst of the Covid emergency”, says Antonello Mirone, president of Federfarma Services, which represents the intermediate distribution of the drug. “Among the drugs that are difficult to find are anti-inflammatories such as Brufen, Nurofen and Moment, mucolytics such as Fluimucil, antifebrile drugs such as Tachipirina, antibiotics such as Cefixoral”, explains Silvestro Scotti, secretary of the Federation of general practitioners (Fimmg). In this period, he specifies, “a high use of anti-inflammatories weighs, considering that we have a flu that has caused 20% more infections this year and which runs at the same time as Covid, for which the same symptomatic drugs are used “.

But for other specialties “there may also be forms of speculation, similar to those seen on fuels. Many of the medicines in short supply, in fact, are prescribable and have an agreed price but have the same active ingredients as over-the-counter medicines with prices determined by demand and offer”. Angelini, one of the many companies that see some of their drugs now unavailable in pharmacies, explains that the shortage is in any case temporary.

“The emergency is worldwide and among the many causes, there is also the Covid epidemic in China” which is “the main producer of active ingredients and at the moment it has to keep the production lines open while the cases are growing and in parallel it is increasing the internal demand for medicines”, explains the president of the Federation of Italian Pharmacists’ Orders (Fofi), Andrea Mandelli. “So, he stresses, Ben is welcome to the table to face what we have defined as a ‘perfect storm'”. But, “we must also explain to the Italians that they must trust the pharmacist, who will be able to give alternatives. And they must avoid stockpiling, taking them away from those who need them now”.

“Of the 3,000 drugs identified as missing by AIFA, 1,500 are replaceable,” says Marcello Cattani, president of Farmindustria. For their part, the companies, he continues, “are making every effort to ensure continuity of production, trying to find active ingredients and raw materials on other markets, in addition to those generally used”. As for the causes, “the shortages are not attributable to exports”. The problem, however, is that “Italy is among the main producers of medicines but depends on foreign countries as regards active ingredients and packaging material. Some countries are investing heavily in the supply chain to make themselves less dependent on imports. A localization process has begun in Italy, but time is needed”.