Medicines: what is this shock procedure used by pharmacists in Eure-et-Loire to blame stock shortages?

4900 links in a very dense flow: according to FSPF 28, the association of most public pharmacists, the department of Eure-et-Loire faces a shortage of several families of drugs (antibiotics, antidiabetic drugs, anticancer drugs, etc.). To inform legislators about what constitutes a “risk” from a public health perspective, FSPF 28 just launched a particularly…viral information campaign.

An avalanche of emails is as viral as a bad flu! This is what awaits the seven parliamentarians of the Eure-et-Loire region, or at least the staff of these deputies and senators responsible for managing their mailbox, in May 2024.

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These emails, addressed to FSPF 28, the departmental branch of the majority of public pharmacists’ unions, condemn the shortage of medicines that in France, as in Eure-et-Loire, affects some 4,900 items in a very dense flow, which are regularly out of stock . shares, denounces Sébastien Michel, co-president with Didier Huguet of the pharmacists’ union of Eure-et-Loire (FSPF 28), the body of the majority of public pharmacists. “We receive about twenty calls a day from patients who want to know about the availability of medicines. Some don’t hesitate to travel 40 km to get the necessary medicines.”

Several families of drugs considered

Among the main families of drugs affected by this shortage are “drugs against cancer, diabetes and heart rhythm disorders, in particular antibiotics and growth hormones,” points out Sébastien Michel.

Pharmacies in Eure et Loire went on strike on May 30

According to a departmental representative of pharmacists, the drug market, already undermined by structural reasons (increasing needs due to an aging population, relocation of production and drug dependence), is now experiencing another crisis: a cost crisis.

Business is (too) cheap in France

“In France it’s CEPS (Economic Committee on Health Products), which sets prices for medicines using the lowest prices in Europe. We cannot blame the French laboratory for, for example, selling the standard outside France at twice the French price. As a result, drugs produced in France are sold elsewhere and do not benefit the French.”

Viral PR stunt of pharmacists

Since CEPS is legally responsible for setting drug prices, the campaign launched by pharmacists is targeting the French parliament. “We sent a QR code to every pharmacy in the department. Whenever we are unable to deliver the medicine to a patient, we invite them to flash this QR code on their mobile phone, thereby generating an email addressed directly to the seven parliamentarians. The aim of the project is to enable them to assess the scale of the problem.

Consequences. The shortage of medicines that affects Eure-et-Loire, as well as the entire territory, represents a significant harm from a public health point of view, FSPF 28 emphasizes, which condemns contraindications to interruptions and interruptions in treatment, especially in the treatment of chronic pathologies.

Sebastien Courtin