The Swiss Association of Addiction Medicine (SSAM) has warned of a possible shortage of methadone tablets in the coming weeks. She therefore argued for a simplified import of tablets from abroad.
9,000 people in Switzerland are affected by the bottleneck, addiction doctor Thilo Beck said in an interview with Swiss radio SRF on Thursday. Methadone is classified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as an essential drug for the treatment of people with addiction to opiates such as heroin. “The existence of these people is up for debate,” Beck said.
Import from abroad is currently very expensive, Enea Martinelli, board member of the Pharmacists’ Association, told SRF. Each permit costs approximately CHF 200 and applications can only be made individually.
According to SRF, the background is that the Swiss Agency for Therapeutic Products, Swissmedic, has suspended the operating license and all drug approvals of a major manufacturer for safety reasons.
According to Martinelli, in addition to the methadone tablets, the company also produced a drug used for anesthesia during surgery. The federal government has found a solution for this in Germany.
The only alternative with methadone is to take the drug in liquid or capsule form at certain pharmacies. (saw/sda)
Source: Blick
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