The European associations representing manufacturers of medicinal products, parallel distributors, pharmaceutical wholesalers and pharmacists have announced a series of recommendations on the provision of information, designed to help tackle medicines shortages.
Focusing on the transparency and the availability of medicine shortage data, the Associations’ statement is part of their wider commitment to tackling the issue. Evidence suggests it is an increasing problem across the European Union, having a significant impact on patients, on health professionals, on healthcare systems and suppliers.
The recommendations call for greater transparency and availability of medicines shortage data, early detection and assessment of potential shortages, consistency of reporting, increased access to the information available across all parts of the supply chain, improved data infrastructure, and collaborative governance processes.
The recommendations aim to mitigate the impact of shortages on patients, provide patients and health professionals with up-to-date, meaningful information and improve the ability of health systems to diagnose and solve supply issues as they arise.
This statement builds on existing good practices and recommends some specific features of ideal medicines shortages information systems. The European associations representing manufacturers of medicinal products, parallel distributors, pharmaceutical wholesalers and pharmacists hope that, taking into consideration the national specificities of each country, these recommendations can help enhance information systems at a national level, and potentially form the basis of future European level action.