In the case of drugs is discussed in Switzerland and especially about the prices of new therapies, e.g. against cancer. A Problem is in danger of sinking, for the supply of the population is more serious: more and more cheap basic drugs like antibiotics or high blood pressure resources. The Pharma manufacturers can’t deliver.
This is a worldwide increasing Problem. Even in 2016, the Federal Council came to the conclusion that there is no urgent Intervention was necessary. Now the government has changed its mind and wants to intervene.
In the spring of 2020 should be a report of the Federal office for health (BAG) with a number of approaches for Switzerland. Currently, the BAG is looking at, what are the causes of the chronic medication shortages have.
“measures to improve the supply situation has to be assessed at all stages of the supply chain, from manufacturing, warehousing, access to the market to price formation, remuneration,” said spokeswoman Katrin Holenstein. In clear text: The entire drug production is up for debate.
generic medicines: incentive
Currently Drugshortage missing, according to the Website.ch 630 medications. It is a remedy against a variety of common diseases. All have in common is that the patent protection has expired and you are therefore manufactured not only from one but from several companies. In the case of the so-called generic drugs to the market so the prices are cheap, (see our comment, which is why cheap drugs would become more expensive).
but this is Exactly the Problem. “For the manufacturers, the incentives, less profitable drugs to restore missing”, the US pharmaceutical authority, the FDA blatantly. Your report to the bottleneck has just been published. The Americans are faster than the Switzerland, and have already proposed measures. The pharmaceutical industry should be a rating system, to continue to invest in the production of generic drugs. The manufacturer will receive scores for their quality of management and the ability to supply of your generic and can hope for better prices and a higher share of the market.
“The secure supply of tried-and-tested drugs has a certain price.”Marcel Sennhauser, spokesman for the Association of science industries
The BAG is considering for Switzerland currently, among other things, a ban on the export. Scarce medicines should not be executed. Also, price increases could, exceptionally, be granted. Also, it is discussed that the arms of pharmacy awards contracts for scarce medicines to foreign companies in Switzerland.
the Standard raw materials for the medicines, however, are produced only by the pharmaceutical companies themselves – also government-contracted companies would hardly do so. They come from chemical plants in India and especially in China, because you can be in huge amounts of cheaper produced.
China have increased in the past few years, the regulations for work safety and environmental protection, and thousands of factories closed, explains Stefan Schmidinger of Kemiex, a Swiss trading and information platform for drug raw materials. Because wastewater and exhaust gases are well controlled, even better. In the result, only the prices have become more susceptible to strong fluctuations and increases, for the pharmaceutical industry to higher costs but also interruptions in the supply chains are so developed.
Only a raw material supplier
“In the generic is a huge price pressure,” says Axel Müller from the Swiss Association of inter-generic. The bottlenecks come to the Association as called to argue against the currently discussed reference price system, with the aim to reduce prices for generic medicines in Switzerland. The prices should go down, so also the Association of science industries, warns of the lack of basic drugs is likely to increase. “Want to effectively do something against the increasing supply shortages, then it is necessary to recognise that the secure supply of tried-and-tested drugs has a certain price,” said Association spokesman Marcel Sennhauser.
The manufacturer to respond, however, also from a private drive. Novartis, with its generics subsidiary, Sandoz, just search for those key raw materials that are currently purchased only from a single supplier, a second. The failure of a manufacturer it would be then replacement. “The establishment of a second source definitely requires time,” said Novartis spokesman Satoshi Sugimoto. According To Drugshortage.ch is Sandoz 135 medication, the company with the largest supply difficulties in Switzerland.
Created: 16.11.2019, 09:57 PM
