Over a third of individuals claim their family or themselves have been affected by persistent scarcity of certain drugs in the past year, according to a recent survey. The majority of those surveyed (60%) cast blame on the Government, citing inadequate crisis management. Furthermore, 40% perceive the situation as increasingly dire. Over 330 medications are currently inaccessible according to data from the Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA), Irish Pharmacy Union, and a fresh study by generics specialist Azure Pharma.
Customers being informed by pharmacies of medication unavailability has become quite common. Pharmacists are permitted to supply generic alternatives where available, though the recent study from Azure highlights that 45% of currently unavailable medicines listed as having medium to high impacts on customers by the HPRA have no generic equivalent.
This puts strain on pharmacists and doctors who need to find time to modify patient prescriptions. As per a poll commissioned by Azure Pharmaceuticals of 1,304 representative samples, one in three patients had to alter their prescriptions due to these shortages.
The current scarcity is notably affecting medicines such as antibiotics, treatments for high blood pressure, arthritis, allergies, epilepsy, ADHD, and cancer.
Azure Pharma CEO Sandra Gannon stated, “This study shows the ongoing medicine shortages continue to profoundly affect Irish patients, pharmacists, and doctors. Despite this, Ireland seems to ignore the issue while neighbouring countries take active steps to alleviate and respond to the problem”.
Azure Pharmaceuticals, leading supplier of generic medicines in the Irish market, along with biosimilars, make up approximately 60% of Ireland’s pharmaceutical market.