Drug supply problems not only continued in 2023, but increased, reaching a new record of incidents. Last year, a total of 475 drugs were identified with some alert or supply incident. An average of 92 medications with significant supply shortages have been detected weekly, 30% more than the previous year.
This is indicated by the 2023 Balance of incidents in the supply of medicines, presented this Thursday in Valencia, with data from the CISMED, the Information Center on the Supply of Medicines, from almost 10,000 of the 22,000 Spanish pharmacies, presented during the 23rd National Congress of Pharmaceuticals, which is held in Valencia, and which confirms an exponential increase in supply incidents or alerts that have been going on for years.
But pharmacists emphasize a positive fact: only 7% of the medications with incidents are “non-substitutable.” For this reason, they ask the administration to allow them to change a medication for another counterpart or another presentation directly (now, the patient must go to the doctor to change the prescription), something for which they are prepared by their profession.
In this sense, the president of the General Council of Pharmaceutical Associations, Jesús Aguilar, has requested that, in the modification of the Law on Guarantees and Rational Use of Medicines, the substitution of the pharmaceutical form be allowed to avoid the interruption of treatments. “Pharmacists do not cause this problem, but we can collaborate to solve it with simple measures if, for example, the action of the pharmacist in dispensing is allowed to modify the pharmaceutical form of the medication,” explains Aguilar.
“In 9 out of 10 cases the pharmacist can solve the problem by dispensing another medication adjusted to the doctor’s prescription with the same active ingredient, dosage and route of administration,” insists the vice president of the General Council of Pharmacists, Juan Pedro Rísquez.
70% of the alerts correspond to medications indicated for the nervous, cardiovascular, digestive, respiratory or muscular systems. Most are antihypertensive, ophthalmological, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antipsychotic, and for coughs and colds.
At the top are Efferalgan (analgesic and antipyretic), Orfidal (anxiolytic), Primperan (nausea and vomiting), Nutrasone (anti-inflammatory) and Ozempic, a drug for type 2 diabetes that has exceeded acquisition forecasts as it is also indicated for the obesity.
The average duration of a supply incident is just over 4 weeks, although it is usually a recurring problem that repeats itself throughout the year. The probability that a medication with a supply incident will continue the following week in that situation is 80%, the report states.
One of the medications that in 2022 and part of 2023 had parents in check was the lack of pediatric antibiotics in pharmacies. The number of pharmacies with supply shortages of children’s amoxicillin since 2021 has multiplied by 50. But, the situation has improved. During the year 2023, once reaching a maximum in the month of April, shortages in the supply of antibiotic medications with pediatric amoxicillin have experienced a decreasing trend that extends into this beginning of the year, the report indicates.
One of the tools developed by the collegiate pharmaceutical organization to alleviate supply problems is FarmaHelp, an application that allows the community pharmacist to contact the pharmacies in their area when a patient needs a medication and due to urgency or supply incidents does not have it. at your usual pharmacy.
“The growth of Farmahelp in 2023, which has gone from 5,000 to 10,000 participating pharmacies, has facilitated the multiplication of the medications found, going from 106,925 in 2022 to 389,364 in 2023. “Thanks to this application, in 7 out of 10 Sometimes the pharmacist was able to give the patient a solution and offer him another nearby pharmacy,” they point out from the General Council of Pharmaceutical Colleges.
