In a column published this Sunday, August 18 in the JDD, experts warn of the worrying shortage of drugs in France. They demand to impose on laboratories the constitution of stocks for vital remedies and to relocate production in Europe.
“The sick are the first victims”. In a grandstand published this Sunday, August 18 in the Sunday newspaper, around twenty doctors and hospital professors are worried about drug shortages, which are increasingly common in France. They therefore ask to impose on the laboratories the constitution of stocks for the most important remedies and to relocate the production in Europe.
“Very rare a decade ago, drug shortages are on the rise. In 2018, according to the National Medicines Safety Agency (ANSM)there were 868 reports of tensions or supply disruptions of which patients are the first victims when it concerns drugs of major therapeutic interest (MITM) for which there is, most often, no alternative effective available”, warn the 26 signatories.
These shortages concern drugs against cancer, antibiotics, corticosteroids, vaccines or treatments for hypertension, heart disease and the nervous system.
The return of the production of active ingredients in Europe
According to health professionals, these supply disruptions could be due to the relocation of drug manufacturing to India and China. “A faulty workmanship of the active ingredient can be the cause of a shortage which will be all the more serious and prolonged since the laboratory in question is the only producer. But most often supply disruptions are linked to an inability more or less prolonged production of pharmaceutical laboratories – whether they themselves are manufacturers or have entrusted this task to subcontractors – often poorly interested in the manufacture of drugs of low profitability”, they denounce.
In order to put an end to this situation, they therefore propose to impose “as a matter of urgency” on pharmaceutical laboratories the constitution and management of stocks of vital drugs in the form of finished products. “Several months of stocks would make it possible to cushion supply shortages. The shortage with its consequences for patients would thus be prevented”, they argue.
They also ask that “the production of active ingredients” be repatriated to Europe. “The cost of the active ingredient representing only a very small part of the finished product, this relocation should not significantly penalize the price of the drugs”, they write. Finally, they demand the creation of a non-profit pharmaceutical establishment to produce drugs that have passed into the public domain, as in the United States. “The creation of such a structure will prevent shortages and will guarantee the quality of medicines and fair and sustainable prices”, they conclude.
A final plan should be established in September
Faced with these worrying drug shortages, the Minister of Health Agnès Buzyn presented in July a roadmap. Presented at the Parisian headquarters of the Order of Pharmacists, the latter includes a series of “main orientations” which should result in a final plan in September. This should be based on two main axes: “promote the transparency and quality of information” and set up “actions targeted and adapted to each of the players in the drug circuit”, such as the possibility for pharmacists to “replace the unavailable drug initially prescribed with another drug”, when the shortage concerns a “drug of major therapeutic interest”.
Similarly, the Minister of Health would like better “European cooperation”, by continuing “discussions on the joint purchase of essential vaccines in particular at European level” and “sharing of information concerning the situations and causes of shortages in the scale of Europe”. For this, it provides for the creation of a steering committee associating the Medicines Agency (ANSM) and “all the actors concerned”.
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