Whether it’s fever syrups or antibiotics for kids, lice or cough medicines, blood pressure lowering drugs or stomach acid blockers: Anyone who’s addicted to a particular drug is looking down the tube right now. Pharmacists in Germany have been complaining about a widespread drug shortage for weeks.
Now the situation has worsened. Especially when it comes to medicines for young children. The need for drugs there is particularly high right now. This is due to respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV for short.
“Babies and young children in particular sometimes encounter it for the first time and react violently accordingly. Enea Martinelli (55), chief pharmacist of the Bernese FMI hospital group and vice president of the Pharmasuisse association, tells SonntagsBlick that respiratory infections associated with fever and cough are the rule.
To treat the virus, children need antipyretic or anti-inflammatory preparations, such as paracetamol or ibuprofen, among other things. However, ibuprofen syrups are currently insufficient.
Almost sold out in pharmacies
Employees of Amavita, Switzerland’s largest pharmacy chain, reported that parents were frustrated. “We put together the last packs as much as we can,” says one pharmacist. But he also underlines that there is no room for panic. For this reason, worried parents are advised not to buy hamsters.
The situation is also dangerous for other important drugs. Especially with the children’s antibiotic Co-Amoxicillin from the manufacturers Sandoz and Mepha. The preparation is used for certain infections in children from the age of two months and is now sold in almost all pharmacies in Switzerland.
In emergencies, pharmacies can manufacture the drug themselves, but this is complicated. Nicolas Lutz, owner of the Kirchenfeld pharmacy in Bern: “Even if we have the active ingredients, we need a lot of time and a lot of staff to produce the appropriate antibiotics. That’s where we reach our limits.”
The finished preparation costs just under ten francs at the smallest dose and is covered by health insurance companies, while a self-made antibiotic costs more than 30 francs and is not covered by health insurance companies. Parents have to pay for the medicine themselves. This is due to a tariff dispute between health insurance funds and the Federal Office of Public Health (BAG).
Lockdowns in China are responsible
Pharmacists cite irregularities in global production as the cause of bottlenecks. About 68 percent of active ingredient manufacturing facilities for Europe are located in the more cost-effective Asia.
If production stops there, if there is contamination or even if production stops, this could also affect Switzerland. The Pharmasuisse Association of Pharmacists identifies the main problem in China: “Supply is delayed because pharmaceutical companies are still in lockdown in China, where most of the active ingredients are produced,” says spokesperson Martina Tschan.
Chief pharmacist Martinelli lists a total of 782 prescription drugs that are not available. And no improvement in sight.