/image alliance, Westend61, Florian Küttler
Berlin – In Germany, certain drugs for the treatment of sexually transmitted diseases are apparently in short supply. According to the working group of outpatient physicians for infectious diseases and HIV medicines (dagna), the AIDS service (DAH) and representation of HIV-competent pharmacies (DAHKA) not available in sufficient quantities.
Therefore, restrictions are to be expected in the treatment of infectious diseases such as chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis. “It is estimated that we can only cover 50 percent of the demand for both active ingredients,” warned Erik Tenberken, board member of DAHKA.
Almost all pharmacies are affected by delivery bottlenecks. At the Federal Institute of Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM) only four manufacturers have officially reported delivery bottlenecks – but according to Tenberken, no manufacturer is currently delivering at the usual rate. “We are using supplies and gathering remaining stocks – this will not be possible for much longer.”
The lack of supply poses major dangers, says Heiko Karcher, a board member at dagnä. For example, for syphilis, doxycycline is often the only alternative for those with a penicillin allergy; if you have chlamydia, be prepared to work with gyrase inhibitors, which are known to have serious side effects. “Delivery bottlenecks make it difficult to provide the best possible treatment, unreasonably restrict the scope of the doctor’s therapy and thus endanger the well-being of our patients,” Karcher emphasized.
It is regrettable that politicians and manufacturers appear to continue to fail to address the systemic problems that repeatedly lead to supply bottlenecks, say dagnä, DAHKA and DAH. In addition to “inadequate reporting procedures for bottlenecks and a lack of transparency”, these included the concentration on just a few suppliers in the market, almost all of whom produce outside Europe. Even small disruptions in the supply chain can lead to serious bottlenecks.
“We call on politicians to finally act decisively,” says Ulf Kristal, DAH board member. The measures taken so far at national and European level have not been sufficient to solve the problems. What is needed is a diversification of supply chains, a sustainable increase in the production of medicines and active ingredients in Europe and effective measures to ensure sufficient stocks.
German medical journal printout
aerzteblatt.de
The BfArM said at the request of: German medical journalreports of bottlenecks in the supply of the medicines in question are already subject to strict monitoring.
As regards medicinal products containing doxycycline, companies would prefer to bring forward delivery dates as much as possible in coordination with the BfArM. At the same time, import options and exemptions that may be available are already being examined.
With regard to medicinal products containing azithromycin, it was reported that supply bottlenecks were expected mainly in August, but also in September and October. However, the market data from pharmacies available to the BfArM show that there was no interruption in the supply of the affected medicinal products. Temporary undersupply was compensated for by surplus purchases in the following weeks.
Even in the case of limited availability of medicinal products containing azithromycin, the BfArM is in close contact with companies in order to coordinate compensation measures and examine import options. © aha/aerzteblatt.de