Where the pills have gone: the Ministry of Health has compiled a list of potentially scarce drugs
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The shortage of medicines, which Russians have been talking about for a long time and which until now has been ignored by Roszdravnadzor, has finally been recognized at the very top. The very next day, after Vladimir Putin drew attention to the shortage of certain drugs in pharmacies and the increase in prices for them, the Ministry of Health hastened to compile a list of potentially scarce positions, in which 85 types of drugs. “MK” studied the list and learned from the experts how serious losses we can expect.
Today, experts are increasingly talking about a global health crisis that has led to a shortage of medicines in different countries. For example, in Australia, a shortage of 361 medicines is reported. Italy officially publishes a list of scarce medicines, which is constantly lengthening. In Germany, for several months now, there has been a shortage of drugs such as ibuprofen, antipyretic syrups for children; there are reports of running out of antibiotics in pharmacies. There is a shortage of antipyretics, antibiotics, antidepressants in Ireland.
Reports of a shortage of certain drugs in Russia appear with frightening regularity. Broad-spectrum antibiotics disappeared: amoxiclav, augmentin, amoxicillin, children’s antibiotic cefixime. One of the most acute problems is the widespread absence in the country of a drug for the treatment of hormone-dependent tumors (for example, breast cancer) tamoxifen. Hormone-dependent tumors in breast cancer occur in about 30% of cases, and tamoxifen is prescribed to patients for a long time – for a period of 5 years. In addition, tamoxifen is used in the treatment of ovarian cancer, endometrial cancer, kidney cancer, melanoma, soft tissue sarcoma and other cancers. Hundreds of patients complain on social networks that they cannot find him in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Volgograd, Izhevsk, Cherepovets, Novosibirsk, Tver, Sakhalin, etc. The Association of Independent Pharmacies SRO confirms the drug shortage in pharmacies: according to experts, the last supply of tamoxifen was in October 2022: in the fall, imported analogues began to disappear, and then there were no more domestic ones. Wholesalers don’t have tamoxifen either. However, Roszdravnadzor officially denied the shortage of the drug.
As the chief hepatologist of the Moscow region, Pavel Bogomolov, told MK, the drug semaglutide disappeared from the market: “It is completely incomprehensible how to treat patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease now. And this is, for a moment, about 27% of the population. It is also fortunate that there are all the necessary drugs for patients with hepatitis C, otherwise we would not be able to complete the federal project to eliminate this infectious disease.”
Users of social networks report that they cannot buy Saloral, a drug for allergen-specific immunotherapy, anywhere. It disappeared everywhere, both French and Russian, although this is actually the only effective remedy for seasonal polynoses.
The problem with the shortage of these drugs has not yet been resolved, however, a list of drugs has been compiled in advance that may just disappear and which may be much less in pharmacies than we would like. This is a list of so-called. potentially defective drugs. It contains both drugs, without which the health of the population is unlikely to suffer globally (for example, motherwort tincture, peppermint leaf oil, some vitamins, antiseptics, bacteriophages, etc.), and critical drugs. In addition to antipyretics (including ordinary acetylsalicylic acid and paracetamol), it contains several antibiotics and antitumor agents (including the monoclonal antibodies nivolumab, pembrolizumab and trastuzumab), drugs for the treatment of diabetes, solutions for peritoneal dialysis, the popular glucocorticoid prednisolone, human immunoglobulin, including against hepatitis B. The latter, according to Pavel Bogomolov, is vital for people undergoing liver transplantation.
In addition, the list of shortages includes an inactivated influenza vaccine, a vaccine for the prevention of diphtheria, whooping cough and tetanus, and the antiepileptic drug carbamazepine. Particularly frightening is the presence of anti-rabies immunoglobulin from human blood serum in the list – this remedy is administered to those who have suffered from animal bites to prevent rabies. There have been talks about interruptions in its supply for a long time. The same applies to tetanus toxoid, an emergency tetanus prophylaxis for dirty wounds.
It is curious that even potassium iodide is on the list of deficiencies (for the prevention and treatment of iodine deficiency conditions that are widespread in our country), popular anesthetics lidocaine (dentists are already experiencing an acute shortage of it) and procaine, a popular diarrhea remedy loperamide, nitroglycerin, diazepam, hydrogen peroxide and Activated carbon.
Director of the Association of Independent Pharmacies SRO, head of the Alliance of Pharmaceutical Associations Victoria Presnyakova considers the appearance of such a list to be the prompt reaction of the authorities to all changes and market problems: “Its main goal is to make operational management decisions in order to prevent defects in these positions. Unfortunately, the reality is that for some time we will be recording certain interruptions in supplies. There are several reasons for this: increased demand in the world, disruption of supply chains, etc. The state and the industry are making every possible effort to ensure that the population is fully provided with medicines. There is no cause for concern. And you definitely should not give in to panic and run to buy all the drugs for the future strictly according to the list. If some trade name temporarily disappears, then you can always find a replacement.
RNC Pharma Development Director Nikolay Bespalov calls the appearance of such a list an attempt to influence the situation: “The list is not exhaustive, and in itself it has nothing to do with defects – it recognizes the problems around a certain range of drugs in order to be ready. Of course, the reasons for the absence of certain positions are completely different. For example, problems with children’s ibuprofen suppositories were generally resolved, in December the first batches began to arrive. Problems with tamoxifen are most likely related to the re-registration of the price for it – you need to wait. If we talk about staloral, then, probably, the increased demand for it is dictated by the season: just now they are starting therapy with it. Its deliveries are ongoing. The situation with amoxiclav is improving, it is a global problem associated with a shortage of a substance that is produced only in China. There is a problem with estradiols (steroid hormones), for some reason they are not on the list of vital ones, but are necessary for many women during menopause. It’s most likely a matter of logistics. In Europe, things are better compared to us, but they are also far from ideal.”
Newspaper headline:
Where did the pills go?
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