The MPs are members of the All-Party Pharmacy Group (APPG), which is calling for written evidence, and intends to invite witnesses to attend evidence sessions and produce a report containing conclusions and recommendations for action by government and other interested parties. Work will start immediately and the group intends to complete the inquiry and publish its report in the first quarter of 2012.

Commenting on the 21 November 2011 announcement, the Right Honourable Mr Kevin Barron MP, Chairman of the APPG, said, ‘shortages of NHS prescription medicines are a daily challenge for pharmacists up and down the country. This has been a problem for far too long, and as far as we can see the situation is not improving.’

This fact has been backed up by UK pharmacy chain Lloyds Pharmacy who reported on 11 November 2011 an intolerable level of delays in the supply chain after a survey of its pharmacists revealed that 80% faced stock shortages on four or more prescriptions a week.

Mr Barron added that ‘the best interests of patients are being put at risk if medicines are not available when they are needed, and pharmacists are spending inordinate amounts of time trying to source medicines that are in short supply’. In the Lloyds Pharmacy survey 50% of pharmacists were spending between one and three hours a week trying to source medicines and 98% of them believed that the situation was affecting patients’ health.

The problem according to Mr Barron is that ‘this isn’t about over-the-counter medicines designed to treat minor ailments. This is about prescription medicines, including those for treating serious conditions such as hypertension, depression, diabetes and respiratory disease. In fact, medicines for almost every major condition have at some point in recent times gone into shortage. It is simply not acceptable that patients are being put at risk by their unavailability, and we cannot leave the situation unresolved.’

Both the NHS Alliance and the Patients’ Association have also spoken out against the drug shortages. NHS Alliance Chairman Mr Michael Dixon said that ‘the current quota system for medicines isn’t working’ and is causing ‘real harm’ to patients, while Ms Katherine Murphy, Chief Executive of the Patients’ Association added that the shortages were putting the ‘most vulnerable patients’ at risk.

It is not just small molecule drugs that are reported to be in short supply in the UK, biosimilars have also been affected [1].

Although Mr Barron admitted that the current UK Government has looked in to the problem he added that the APPG wanted ‘to inject some urgency into this’. The APPG intend to seek the views of everyone involved in the medicines supply chain and will be asking the government about its plans for tackling this serious issue. The aim is to get the problem under control and reduce these shortages as quickly as possible.

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Reference

1. GaBI Online - Generics and Biosimilars Initiative. Drug shortages are not just a US problem [www.gabionline.net]. Mol, Belgium: Pro Pharma Communications International; [cited 2011 November 25]. Available from: www.gabionline.net/Pharma-News/Biosimilars-and-cancer-drug-shortages-in-Europe