May 3, 2023, 5:51 pm | Read time: 3 minutes
The federal states are now taking emergency measures against the shortage of medications for children. A law is supposed to solve the problem in the long term, but there are doubts about it.
More and more federal states are taking emergency measures against the shortage of antibiotic syrups for children. Following Bremen, Bavaria, and North Rhine-Westphalia, Baden-Württemberg also announced that it has issued temporary rules to deviate from the Medicines Act. Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) expressed hope that the law he initiated to eliminate medication shortages will quickly pass through the Bundestag and Bundesrat. The pharmaceutical industry is skeptical about whether it will truly solve the problems.
Overview
What Does the New Law to Combat Drug Supply Shortages Entail?
“I must point out, these problems have been known for ten years, and not much has been done. Now we have quickly brought a law through the cabinet, and I am quite sure that colleagues in parliament will also quickly pass this law,” Lauterbach told the German Press Agency in Berlin. This needs to happen quickly now.
The cabinet approved Lauterbach’s so-called Drug Supply Shortage and Supply Improvement Act in early April. However, it still needs to pass through the Bundestag and Bundesrat. It aims to allow manufacturers to demand higher prices for children’s medications in Germany, making deliveries to Germany more worthwhile. For important medications, a requirement for several months of stockpiling is generally planned. And for antibiotics, manufacturers producing active ingredients in Europe are to be given more opportunities.
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Which Medications Besides Antibiotic Syrups Are in Short Supply?
Pediatricians in several European countries had appealed to politicians in an urgent letter to address the poor supply situation. Recently, not only fever syrups but also antibiotics were in short supply. According to the German Patient Protection Foundation, there are problems not only with children’s medications but also generally with blood lipid reducers, blood pressure medications, and even cancer drugs.
Relaxation in Import of Preparations to Counter Antibiotic Shortage
Several federal states are now relaxing import rules for antibiotic syrups for children due to the shortage. This is possible because the Ministry of Health officially declared a supply shortage for these preparations last week. The relaxations involve, for example, the import of products not approved or registered in Germany. Lauterbach spoke of “emergency measures” on Monday. “The process shows, however, that the law is not coming too soon.”
However, the Federal Association of Drug Manufacturers considers it only helpful in certain areas. “This could solve the problem of availability of children’s medications. Generally, however, the law will ‘not help improve the situation in Germany,'” said CEO Hubertus Cranz to ZDF’s “Morgenmagazin.” It is also a structural problem: a market that has been cut back over the years, pushing the price level of non-patented drugs so low that several manufacturers have left the market. The association called for an inflation adjustment in the pharmaceutical sector.
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On the other hand, the health insurance companies said the direction of the new drug law is correct. The criticism from the pharmaceutical industry was rejected by the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds (GKV). “First relocate production abroad, then make a lot of money, and now, when the problems of these corporate decisions become apparent, call for the state,” said GKV spokesperson Florian Lanz.
With material from dpa