The National Medicines Administration (Infarmed) on Tuesday increased the number of medicines whose exports have been suspended to 137 as pharmacies register a stabilizing shortage of affordable medicines.
An information circular issued on Tuesday by the national regulatory authority updated the list of medicines whose exports have been temporarily suspended, a list that is determined monthly and includes medicines that expired in the previous month and are considered medium or high impact according to availability regulation. .
According to Infarmed, this ban is intended to ensure supply to the national market after a gap has occurred and applies to all participants in the chain, including manufacturers.
Compared with January, when the export of about 110 drugs was temporarily banned, the list updated on Tuesday includes 138 drugs from various categories and active substances, such as amylase, amoxicillin, paracetamol and ibuprofen.
Speaking to Lusa, the president of the National Association of Pharmacies (ANF) said the shortage situation is “stable”, continuing to see “sometimes delays in replacement” of some medicines most commonly used in the winter and others that were in short supply. notification.
According to Ema Paulino, this shortage was “cross-cutting”, affecting both medicines used to treat chronic conditions and those for which there are usually alternatives on the market, such as medicines for respiratory infections such as analgesics, anti-inflammatories and antibiotics.
“We continue to find alternatives in pharmacies when possible, or in circumstances where it is necessary to see a doctor to change a prescription,” the head of the FAN said.
Despite occasional shortcomings in the supply on the market, “we have found an alternative, and people are not left without treatment,” Ema Paulino assured.
As part of Infarmed, several working groups are working to “find other mechanisms that also help mitigate the impact of these absences on people,” he said.
Among those measures is Via Verde do Medicamento, a mechanism used by pharmacies to manage stocks of medicines in short supply, an area where “improvements have already been identified and are being discussed for implementation,” Ema Paulino said.
In addition, these working groups are looking into how communication between different healthcare professionals can be improved so that information about drug shortages reaches prescribers quickly so that they can find alternative medicines.
In January, the Ministry of Health announced that prices for the cheapest medicines would increase by 5% to ease access to medicines and avoid shortages.
“Medicines with a retail price (PVP) of up to 10 euros will be updated by 5%, and medicines with prices between 10 and 15 euros will be updated by 2%,” the Ministry of Health (MoH) said in a statement. explaining that this update takes place outside of the normal annual price review process.
For Ema Paulino, this price increase is expected to be applied in March or April, which is an “important” measure as it is the first increase made in about 20 years “to ensure the viability of supply chains.”
“We believe this is an important measure that will help stabilize distribution chains,” the ANF president said.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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