At that time we only had 40 tablets available on the hospital grounds!

We have been hearing about the drug availability problem for a long time. Shortages of various medicines affect the whole of Europe. In the EU, but also outside the EU, that is, for example, in the UK as well. It is also known that this is a global problem. However, the real drama is when a patient can't count on administering a drug, even in a hospital, let alone buying it from a pharmacy. So how do we solve this problem?

The problem of drug availability has many causes. Among them are the location of manufacturing plants in remote places such as China, the sudden liquidation of these factories, their relocation to another, more distant location, and consequent logistical problems, as well as natural disasters that disrupt the production and drug supply chains. Thus, the time from production to marketing often takes up to several months. As Prof. Kopyta emphasizes: - During the so-called transition period, we make use of drug reserves, but even these reserves are exhaustible. In some cases it is possible to replace the missing drug with its equivalent, but it happens that the replacement does not exist. For example, in the spring there was a shortage of an antiepileptic drug called clobazam; and this is a key drug in the treatment of some drug-resistant epilepsies and is an essential part of polytherapy, moreover - like any antiepileptic drug, it must be used systematically and its administration must not be abruptly discontinued - At that time we had only 40 tablets available on the hospital grounds! Fortunately, the shortage was quickly replenished. At the moment the drug is already available to the patient with a prescription, but please note that this type of situation is experienced by us, doctors, patients in Poland but also in Europe. I know from colleagues in the Netherlands , that they experienced this shortage at a similar time," says Prof. Kopyta.

Often doctors look for a substitute for the drug, from another company, but it also happens that this substitute is also unavailable.

European Medicines Agency with campaign #ItTakesATeam

After many talks, meetings and webinars with the medical and pharmaceutical community but also patients, the European Medicines Agency ( EMA, European Medicines Agency ), together with the EPNS ( European Pediatric Neurology Society ) and other healthcare and consumer organizations, has launched a campaign under the hashtag #ItTakesATeam to raise awareness of how we can all help prevent and manage drug shortages. The project is designed to mobilize various European organizations to look at the problem of drug shortages. Representatives are drawing on knowledge from the previous infection season and the antibiotic shortages that existed at the time to prepare European countries in advance for the next infection season.

There is also the possibility of solidarity measures involving the distribution of medicines between countries, if such a need is raised by an individual country. In addition, the implementation of legislative changes in this area has been signaled.

In the words of Professor Ilona Kopyta: - We are at the beginning of the road, it can be said that we have all recognized the problem, we have better understood its complex causes, but also - the possibilities and role of health care professionals, as well as consumers, patients and pharmacists, in this difficult situation I believe that meeting and discussing the problem from different points of view, serves first of all the safety of the patient so that the patient avoids the situation that he does not get the drug he comes to the pharmacy for, which he needs. Then the role of the doctor caring for the patient and the pharmacist is to convey this information to each other and take action to safeguard the patient's health.

The European Medicines Agency, together with organizations that have responded to the call for a joint campaign on drug shortages in the markets of European countries, are publicizing the problem in the public space, informing, among other things, about the possibility of obtaining current information from the EMA about already existing shortages. It is important to develop a scheme for wholesaler-pharmacist-doctor communication about running out of medicines.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is running the #ItTakesATeam campaign on drug shortages in the markets of European Union countries. The campaign held a public webinar on the topic on November 4, and several European organizations, including the European Pediatric Neurology Society (EPNS), responded to the EMA's call for cooperation in monitoring and responding to drug shortages in Europe. Professor Ilona Kopyta, a pediatric neurologist at the Medical University of Silesia, as a representative of the EPNS Board of Directors, together with EPNS President Professor Kevin Rostasy, took part in the campaign, recording materials to inform the public about the problem.

Source: SUM