European pharmacist organizations make joint call for action on medicines shortages

The representative organizations for European community, hospital and industrial pharmacists have issued a joint call for action by governments, regulators and the European Commission to tackle the growing problem of medicines shortages.

Presenting evidence at the European Parliament on the scale of the difficulties being experienced across sectors, spokespeople from the Pharmaceutical Group of the European Union (PGEU), the European Association of Hospital Pharmacists (EAHP) and the European Industrial Pharmacists Group (EIPG) called for:

•  heightened awareness by governments and national regulators of the critical impacts medicines shortages have in relation to patient welfare and safety, and the accompanying need for urgent action;
• greater investigation of the impact that national strategies on medicines pricing and reimbursement are having on the operation of the supply chain; and
• better sharing and implementation of best practices between countries in responding to medicines shortage, including the operation of information portals and early warning systems.