Bottleneck in fever juice for children - and other medicines are becoming scarce in the Freising district

Created: 07/04/2022, 19:00

By: Magdalena Hoecherl

Fever?

Children are then usually given Nurofen – but the juice is currently not available.

Photo: Riedl/dpa © Riedl/dpa

When children have a fever, they are often prescribed ibuprofen juice.

But that hardly exists at the moment.

And there are also bottlenecks with other medicines.

Freising

– Ingrid Kaiser can hardly believe it.

"I've been a pharmacist for almost 30 years and have never had to send a mother away because I no longer had Nurofen." But that's exactly what happened to the pharmacy spokeswoman for the district for the first time on night duty.

She simply no longer had the desired fever juice with the active ingredient ibuprofen in stock.

Paracetamol juices and electrolyte powders are also currently difficult to obtain.

Georg Miedl confirms this.

The doctor's spokesman in the district and his colleagues - pediatrician practices are most affected - have been experiencing bottlenecks in the delivery of ibuprofen and paracetamol in suspension form (i.e. liquid) or as juice for almost three weeks.

"It's not just about our county.

These drugs are also currently not available in Munich and other districts," says Miedl when asked by FT.

Multiple reasons for bottleneck

There are several reasons for this: "On the one hand, due to the significantly increased incidence of infection - influenza, Covid, non-specific feverish flu infections - there is currently a high demand, especially among small patients, so that the stocks in pharmacies that are usual for this time of year are running out On the other hand, many manufacturers have withdrawn from the comparatively complex and therefore more expensive production of suspensions.

The places of production would also play a role.

"There is currently no official statement on the bottleneck for the electrolytes."

(By the way: everything from the region is now also available in our regular Freising newsletter.)

It is not unusual that not all medicines are available at all times.

In recent years there have been repeated bottlenecks and delivery failures.

"In December 2019, at least 127 active ingredients classified as supply-relevant were affected by supply bottlenecks, at that time the blood pressure-lowering drug valsartan in particular," explains Miedl.

Ibuprofen and paracetamol were also repeatedly affected by bottlenecks.

However, he also emphasizes: "But never to the current extent."

suppositories as an alternative

The good news is that the active ingredients are still available in tablet and suppository form.

According to Miedl, the doctors now want to switch to this in a suitable dose.

“Alternatively, healing food can be used for the electrolytes, and depending on the age, isotonic drinks or food containing electrolytes can also be used.

The focus here is on advice in practices and pharmacies.”

You can find more current news from the district of Freising at Merkur.de/Freising.