[Ip-health] Profit-led drug shortage exposed

[Joana Ramos]

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
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Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/health/8516080.stm



 Profit-led drug shortage exposed

By Jane Hughes
Health correspondent, BBC News
15 Feb. 2010

Drug wholesalers selling stock abroad to maximise profit means UK
patients are missing out on essential medicines, experts say.

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society says urgent action is needed and that
patients' lives are being put at risk.

It says UK pharmacies face increasing shortages of over 40 well-known
drugs used to treat conditions like cancer, high blood pressure and
epilepsy.

Ministers have promised an emergency summit into the issue.

The problem seems to be caused by the weak pound which makes it more
profitable to sell medicines abroad.

At a loss

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain says drugs
manufacturers and wholesalers are limiting the supplies they send
individual pharmacies.

This means that when pharmacists exceed their quota, they are having to
spend hours negotiating for extra supply, which sometimes takes weeks to
arrive.

At Mount Elgon pharmacy in south London, pharmacist Raj Patel has had to
deal with dozens of anxious patients. "It feels as if we're constantly
fighting a losing battle," he said.

Breast cancer patient Marion Wilkes, from Oxfordshire, is taking
medication to regulate her hormones.

But she's been having problems getting her prescription for the last few
months.

She says if her pharmacist hadn't spent hours ringing around to find her
supplies she might have had to go without, and she's terrified of
running out of medicines.

"It puts a huge amount of stress on you," she said, "and one of the
worst things for anyone with cancer is stress.

"I don't want to get a recurrence of my cancer - but if you miss out on
your drugs, that leaves an opening for it to come back."

David Pruce, Director of Policy for the Royal Pharmaceutical Society
says people's lives are being put at risk.

"We're already seeing patients going without their medicines for days
and potentially weeks," he said.

"It's only a matter of time before it becomes much more serious."

The Department of Health has promised an emergency summit next month to
look into the issue.

"It is a very few unscrupulous people that are putting profits before
patients," said the Health Minister, Mike O'Brien.

"Rather than selling drugs to NHS patients as they should, they are
selling them abroad for greater profit."

The organisation which represents pharmaceutical companies has welcomed
the meeting.
A spokesman for the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Society
said there are enough medicines to go round, and that the problem lies
in the distribution system.

"This is a complex problem and needs all parts of the supply chain to
come together to find solutions," he said.


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/health/8516080.stm

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Joana Ramos, MSW
Cancer Resources & Advocacy
Seattle WA USA
+1-206-229-2420
http://ramoslink.info/
www.bmtbasics.org
http://healthwatched.org

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