The health authorities are considering an exit from the crisis soon, after a winter during which around 3,000 drugs, including paracetamol or amoxicillin, were subject to stock shortages or supply difficulties.
- France suffered a severe shortage of medicines this winter.
- Many factors explain this situation which prompted the government to take a series of measures.
- Health authorities are planning a return to normal within a month.
Will the end of winter spell the end of drug shortages in pharmacies? This is what the authorities suggest.
Shortage of medicines: the health authorities want to be reassuring
“The situation will gradually improve.“, estimates the National Medicines Safety Agency, (ANSM). On the side of the Ministry of Health and Prevention, contacted by TF1infothe perspectives are more precise: “Everything should be back to normal by the end of winter, within a month.“
These announcements come as pharmacies in France have been faced with numerous stock shortages, or difficulties in supplying many drugs – including amoxicillin and paracetamol, in recent months.
“All classes of medicinal products are affected by stock-outs or supply tensions, but three classes among medicinal products of major therapeutic interest (MITM) are more particularly exposed: anti-infectives, medicinal products for the nervous system and medicinal products of the cardiovascular system“, indicates theANSM.
A special situation explains the shortage of medicines in France
Several factors would be involved, reports France info : “the triple epidemic of Covid-19, influenza and bronchiolitis, but also the supply problems linked to the war in Ukraine and the increase in demand”. The lack of anticipation by authorities and laboratories has also been pointed out.
Although these problems were already present before the Covid years, the pandemic has accelerated the trend, the ANSM said.
To prevent this from happening again, the government wants to adopt a new strategy for the prevention and management of shortages, to preserve French people’s access to medicines throughout the territory: “By the end of May, the list of so-called critical medicines because they are strategic for the health of our fellow citizens will be drawn up – based on the recommendations of the scientific authorities“, thus indicated the Minister François Braun in a recent press release.
