Amoxicillin, one of the most prescribed molecules to treat children’s illnesses (otitis, angina, bronchitis, etc.) is missing from pharmacies.
“It’s becoming almost impossible to find any”
“It’s been difficult to find it for several months. Now it’s becoming almost impossible when we are in the midst of an epidemic of bronchiolitis”, deplores Raphaël Gigliotti, pharmacist in Nice and general secretary of the pharmacists of the Alpes-Maritimes.
“Strong amoxicillin supply tensions, even stockouts, are expected until March 2023. They concern all of Europe”, alerts the National Medicines Agency (ANSM).
The most impacted presentations are the drinkable forms: amoxicillin/clamoxyl powder for drinkable suspension 125 mg/5ml, 250 mg/5ml and 500 mg/5ml.
“It causes a lot of stress”
“I have parents who go to three or four pharmacies to find an antibiotic for their child. When he has a fever of 40, it causes a lot of stress but luckily there is no aggression. They understand that the pharmacists have nothing to do with it. But it gives the impression that in France we can no longer treat our children. It’s dramatic”, reports Cyril Colombani, pharmacist in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin and president of the Syndicate Union of Community Pharmacists 06.
Waiting for a return to normal, “we help out between pharmacies, we juggle between different laboratories”, laments Raphaël Gigliotti.
“Don’t forget the rest”
“The doctors are already overwhelmed, we have to join them to modify the treatment with what we have in stock” adds Cyril Colombani who warns: “we must not forget the rest. I receive less than a third of the products I order. We have the same problem with antidiabetics, anticancer drugs, drugs to treat COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). The reality, in pharmacy is that for one out of two prescriptions there are products missing”.
“These tensions are the consequence of a very significant increase in antibiotic consumption coupled with difficulties on industrial production lines which have not regained their production capacity before the Covid-19 pandemic”, details the ANSM which asks “prescribers to respect the therapeutic recommendations in force on the proper use of antibiotics”.
For pharmacists on the Côte d’Azur, these difficulties are above all linked to the excessively low prices of medicines imposed by France, which pushes laboratories to supply the countries with the highest bids as a priority.