84% of pharmacists in Austria have resorted to in-house production of missing medications during the supply shortages in recent years. According to a survey for a study, 30% of their patient contacts were affected by the shortages. This translates to about 60 affected individuals per day in an Austrian pharmacy, emphasized study leader Olaf Rose on Monday at the Pharmacy Conference in Schladming.
According to the survey, it takes an average of twelve minutes to resolve a supply shortage in a pharmacy. With 60 affected patients per day, this means pharmacies were occupied with supply shortages for 12 hours a day or were at the time of the survey. “This is, of course, a huge cost factor,” said Rose from the Paracelsus Medical Private University (PMU) in Salzburg. The study was conducted from 2023 to the present year.
Patients Feel Insecure
The surveyed pharmacists feared that 10% of therapies were seriously endangered by supply shortages. Patients were generally very insecure about this. Patients were also surveyed for the study and reported being “somewhat satisfied” with the solutions offered by pharmacies. The most common solution was switching to another medication, followed by a brief delay until the required product was available.
The pharmacists were only partially blamed for the supply shortages by the surveyed patients, with 87% of the blame directed at politicians. The pharmacists wished for more freedom in solving the issue and better communication possibilities with doctors.
Manufacturers Warn About Supplier Side Constriction
The manufacturers were surveyed by the research team of the Generic Association regarding supply shortages. The key issue for the future, according to them, is the narrowing on the supplier side. Logistical problems are almost always solvable, but the suppliers are becoming fewer due to price pressures. “If only one remains and something happens, then there’s nothing left,” said Rose, leader of the Pharmakotherapy and Translational Research group at PMU.
A return of production to Europe seems almost impossible, as entrepreneurs cannot imagine it being viable in the long term. The requirement in several countries, including Austria, for wholesalers or pharmacies to store more stock “leads to withdrawals from other markets.” This is not sensible from the perspective of manufacturers and remains a “pious wish,” explained Rose.
