“Creating new mandatory stocks would be the stupidest thing to do right now”

Pharmaceutical companies are the most important exporters in Switzerland. More than 50 percent of all exports from Switzerland come from the pharmaceutical industry. However, there is a severe shortage of medicines in this country. Antipyretic syrups for children: sold out. Anti-epileptics: not available. Antibiotics: insufficient supply.

It seems paradoxical that medicines are becoming scarce in Switzerland, the stronghold of medicines. Delivery bottlenecks, including globalization and cost pressure, have a wide variety of causes: For many drugs, there is only one manufacturer worldwide, for example in China or India. If the factory stops, the drug will be lost all over the world. Even in the medicine stronghold of Switzerland.

The federal government only stores a few drugs

“It would be misleading to believe that we can manufacture all drugs ourselves,” says Stefan Felder (62). He is a health economist at the University of Basel and, among other things, does research on medicine shortages. In one study, Felder examined 4,000 medicinal products over a five-year period. Result: 30 percent experienced temporary birth problems, patients had to switch to substitute products. At 20 percent there was not even an alternative.

National mandatory stocks for all affected drugs would be as misleading as increased production in Switzerland. Felder rhetorically asked, “Where do you start and where do you stop?” he asks. “The drug has expired. This comes at incredible costs.”

In fact, there is a national mandatory stockpile for selected drugs similar to petroleum or sugar. These include opiates and other powerful pain relievers or broad-spectrum drugs against infectious diseases. “Expanding mandatory stocks further would be the dumbest thing you can do right now,” warns Enea Martinelli, 57, vice president of the Swiss Pharmaceutical Association Pharmasuisse and founder of the online platform Drughortage.ch, which lists drug shortages.

The site currently lists over 700 supply bottlenecks. There is a simple reason why Martinelli does not want to create new mandatory stocks: “This pulls even more of the already scarce products from the market. This aggravates the problem.”

Conflict over powers between the Confederation and the cantons

Medicines are more expensive in this country than abroad. Switzerland benefits when there are gaps in supply. According to its motto: Whoever pays the most will be supplied first. Switzerland, on the other hand, is a small, fragmented market and therefore less attractive to pharmaceutical companies, which takes away the advantage of the higher price level.

Switzerland doesn’t have the power to solve global supply bottlenecks for drugs – pharmaceutical stronghold or not. Still, in the opinion of experts, it should not be idle. Health economist Felder, for example, is commended for Martinelli’s private initiative to enumerate and list drug shortages. But: “Actually, that would be the job of the federal government!”

It’s just: the federal government isn’t even responsible today. The authority belongs to the cantons. But if Switzerland is too small to have a say in the global fight for scarce drugs, what about Schwyz or Solothurn? Doctors, pharmacists, the pharmaceutical industry and others therefore started the so-called pharmaceutical enterprise. It aims to oblige the federal government to ensure an adequate supply of medicinal products in Switzerland.

The signature collection process begins in January. However, anyone needing a fire syrup or anti-epileptic at the pharmacy today isn’t of much use at the moment.