The most common cause of drug shortages recently is excess demand over supply. The demand is enormously high and is higher than the planned consumption for the current year. Disruptions to global supply chains (problems with packaging material, employee quarantines, closed factories and ports, etc.) already occurred during the covid pandemic, and the situation has not yet stabilized.

In the future, the availability of medicinal products in the Czech Republic may also be influenced by the pressure for the lowest possible price. It is necessary to perceive the Czech drug market in the context of the European market and the competitiveness of individual member states. It is not only the price per box, but also the costs associated with it (including the increase in energy prices), or profitability. It is therefore worth considering whether it is worse to pay extra or not to have the medicine available at all. It may happen that if the medicinal product is unprofitable in the long term, it may no longer be marketed in the future (danger – if there is no other alternative). It is obvious that the smaller the number of brands for one molecule, the greater the risk of irreplaceable failures.

The pharmacist's role in this situation is more demanding than it might seem at first glance. If it is not possible to find a specific medicinal product in distribution, a generic substitute is usually available. If this option is not possible, it is necessary to contact the attending physician (provide information regarding the length of the outage according to SÚKL and suggest options for pharmacotherapy).

Medicines in short supply mainly include penicillin antibiotics, but also some antidiabetics, antihypertensives, central muscle relaxants, cytostatics, etc.

Free according to the Pharma Profit web portal, 6/27/2023