Every day, Berlin pharmacist Fatih Kaynak checks the availability of medicine successful the cardinal machine database. Hundreds of drugs are retired of stock. "We are abbreviated of antibiotics, painkillers, but besides humor unit reducers, and cancer, stomach, and bosom medication," Kaynak says arsenic helium scrolls done a agelong database of drugs that are unavailable. "It's particularly hard for america to proviso children."
Since they find it hard to swallow tablets, infants are usually fixed liquid medicine. There are besides sweet-tasting painkillers and antipyretics containing paracetamol oregon ibuprofen. More than 10 cardinal packages are sold successful Germany each year, but present the shelves successful the Kranich pharmacy are astir empty. There are besides proviso problems with penicillin and liquid antibiotics.
"If I privation 50 packs of a scarce drug, I mightiness really get lone five," says the pharmacist.
Desperate parents successful Germany person been speaking retired connected societal media for months. Tips for alternate location remedies are overmuch sought after. But often the lone enactment is simply a travel to the infirmary exigency rooms — which are overwhelmed.
Now the caput of the aesculapian association, Klaus Reinhardt, has made an antithetic suggestion: those who are steadfast should springiness immoderate medicine they person astatine location to sick radical successful the neighborhood. "We request thing similar flea markets for medicine," Reinhardt told Berlin's Tagesspiegel paper this week. Such markets could besides see medicines whose expiration day has already passed a fewer months ago, helium added.
Thomas Benkert, the president of the Federal Chamber of Pharmacists, is appalled astatine the idea: "Medicines beryllium successful pharmacies, not successful flea markets — and surely not expired ones," helium said successful a statement.
Germany's children's ward are overwhelmed
Alternatives sought
Pharmacies successful Germany tin often nutrient medicines themselves, filling betwixt 12 and 14 cardinal prescriptions each year, though that is lone a tiny magnitude compared to the astir 1.3 cardinal cause packages sold successful 2021.
Now, galore pharmacies person begun to premix anti-fever juices for children themselves again — but with the outgo of ingredients and personnel, the terms per vessel is respective times that of the modular medicine. "But what does the terms substance erstwhile a kid has a precocious fever?" says Kaynak.
It is the existent terms of medicine that has enactment Germany successful this precarious position. For the pharmaceutical industry, the accumulation successful Germany and Europe is often simply not worthy it. For example, wellness insurers wage companies €1.36 ($1.44) for a vessel of liquid paracetamol, an magnitude that has not been accrued for 10 years, though the terms of the progressive constituent paracetamol has risen by 70% this twelvemonth alone.
"Rapidly rising progressive constituent and accumulation prices crook the accumulation of drugs specified arsenic paracetamol juices into a loss-making business," said Andreas Burkhardt, wide manager astatine the pharmaceutical institution Teva. "No institution tin prolong that successful the agelong run."
Teva, with its cause marque Ratiopharm, is the past large supplier of liquid paracetamol successful Germany — determination were inactive eleven suppliers lone 12 years ago. After different shaper ceased accumulation successful May this year, Ratiopharm present has to screen 90% of the demand. That is not feasible, the shaper said.
The Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices noted precocious that everything has been bought up. "The availability of the products decreased noticeably. At the aforesaid time, the crisp summation successful purchases led to determination imbalance and stockpiling," the institute wrote successful a property release.
"Medicines arsenic elemental arsenic an anti-fever liquid are often nary longer available," says Thomas Fischbach, president of the Professional Association of Pediatricians and Adolescents. "There are excessively fewer suppliers of specified remedies due to the fact that the fixed-price regularisation successful our state has led to a migration of accumulation to low-wage countries specified arsenic India and China." There, helium notes, determination are besides proviso concatenation problems, which successful crook pb to proviso bottlenecks.
In the wide database, everything that is marked with a purple ellipse is retired of banal successful GermanyImage: Sabine Kinkartz/DWMarket narrowing and the consequences
The occupation is not new: At the opening of 2022, Germany saw a melodramatic shortage of tamoxifen, a cause utilized successful the attraction of bosom crab patients. There is nary substitute for this drug, and earnestly sick patients request a regular supply. Here, too, determination was an acute proviso bottleneck due to the fact that manufacturers had withdrawn from production, citing outgo pressure.
In February, the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices intervened and ordered that, owed to the emergency, alternate medicines containing tamoxifen whitethorn present beryllium imported from overseas and sold without German approval. Still, tamoxifen continues to beryllium 1 of the drugs successful abbreviated supply.
Doctors and absorption politicians are present calling for contiguous enactment from the German government, and experts are calling for authorities accumulation of captious drugs successful Germany. It is clip for a rethink, they say, and accumulation would person to beryllium shifted backmost from Asia.
German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach has responded by promising to put much successful the procurement and accumulation of medicines for children.
This nonfiction was primitively written successful German.
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