As of: February 22, 2024, 9:35 a.m
By: Andreas Schmid
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Cancer drugs, HIV drugs or children's antibiotics: Some drugs are in short supply in Germany.
A new law hasn't changed anything about that.
At the end of August 2023, Marcus Freitag sent a letter to Karl Lauterbach.
Freitag is chairman of the pharmaceutical wholesaler (Phagro) and is therefore jointly responsible for the supply of medicines in Germany.
The reason for the letter was supply bottlenecks for antibiotics and children's medicines.
In his letter to the Minister of Health, Freitag stated: “The supply situation for these medicines is already not only tense, but from our point of view is extremely precarious.” For 85 percent of the urgently needed medicines, the pharmaceutical trade can meet the statutory requirement of two weeks don't make sure.
Drug shortages were a big issue last year.
Lauterbach even warned against “hamster buying”.
The Minister of Health wanted to improve the situation with a new law: the Drug Supply Bottleneck Combating and Care Improvement Act, ALBVVG for short.
What sounds complicated is essentially the following: important medicines, especially for children, should be protected more reliably against supply bottlenecks.
However, this doesn't always work at the moment.
Almost 500 medicines in short supply in Germany: “Supply situation remains very tense”
“Overall, the supply situation remains very tense,” Phagro boss Friday told our editorial team, almost six months after his letter to Lauterbach.
According to the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM), there are currently supply bottlenecks for 477 medications.
With a total of 104,000 drugs approved in Germany, this is a rate of less than 0.5 percent.
For example, painkillers, antihypertensives, HIV medications or anti-diabetic medications are affected - but also some cancer medications.
Ribofolin or fluorouracil, which are used in chemotherapy and are used to treat various types of cancer such as breast or colon cancer, are currently in short supply.
The supply situation is also critical for children's medicines such as antipyretics or medications for scarlet fever.
The pharmaceutical industry accuses: “Politicians are just putting small plasters on the problems”
The drugs affected are mainly generics.
These are medications with the identical active ingredient of an original medication whose patent protection has expired.
They are copycat products that are based on already established medications.
A well-known example is medication with the active ingredient acetylsalicylic acid.
The original is called “Aspirin”.
As a rule, it doesn't matter to consumers which medication they use: generics cannot differ from the original in terms of quality.
Generics make up 80 percent of medicines.
However, the Pro Generika interest group does not see itself as being sufficiently supported by politicians.
“The current bottlenecks clearly show that politicians are just putting small plasters on the problems, but are not addressing their causes,” says Pro-Generika boss Bork Bretthauer when asked by
IPPEN.MEDIA
.
“Neither the Supply Bottleneck Act nor the pharmaceutical strategy can solve the supply bottleneck problem.”
The problem according to Pro Generika: There are too few manufacturers.
For many medicines, a single manufacturer accounts for 50 percent of the supply.
There is only one large producer on the market for the breast cancer drug Tamoxifen.
“The production of many pharmaceuticals is no longer profitable,” says Bretthauer.
“More and more companies are exiting.” The cost pressure has recently been particularly great for children's medicines.
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“Supply bottlenecks for vital medicines have been part of everyday life for years”
The pharmaceutical industry therefore needs more money.
Phagro boss Freitag also follows this line, demanding more compensation for everyone involved – “wholesalers, manufacturers and pharmacies”.
The latter feel the shortage of medication directly in customer contact.
You have to put off worried parents when the fever medicine you want is not available.
“Unfortunately, supply bottlenecks for vital medicines have been part of everyday life in pharmacies for years,” says the President of the Federal Association of German Pharmacists Associations, Gabriele Regina Overwiening.
It is not yet clear whether Lauterbach's delivery bottleneck law will work and bring more medication into pharmacies again.
“This will probably only become apparent in the medium and long term in the coming years.” However, she holds politicians accountable and calls for “more freedom to make decisions and less bureaucracy.”
Several medicines are in short supply in German pharmacies.
© Sven Hoppe/dpa//Monika Skolimowska/dpa/picture alliance (montage)
21-point plan of the CDU/CSU: “Lauterbach has not got the situation under control”
With these demands, the pharmaceutical associations will appear before the Health Committee of the German Bundestag on Wednesday.
A hearing regarding drug supply will take place there.
A proposal from the CDU/CSU parliamentary group is also being discussed.
In it, the Union calls for the implementation of 21 points to improve the supply of medication.
Because Lauterbach “did not get the situation under control,” as the responsible reporter Georg Kippels (CDU) tells our editorial team.
The current situation is “just as problematic as last year”.
Kippels says: “The problem of delivery bottlenecks can only be solved through a different pricing policy and by changing supply chains.” Pharmacies also need to be strengthened.
“These include, among other things, improved reimbursement for expenses related to bottleneck management and better options for exchanging and replacing medications in shortage situations.” One must be able to react more quickly to bottlenecks.
“Especially when it comes to children’s medicines such as antibiotics or fever syrups, we want to create better options for doctors and pharmacists so that parents can get replacements more quickly in the event of a shortage.”
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