Apotekforeningen: Every second patient has experienced a medicine shortage

Norstat has carried out the population survey for the Pharmacy Association, where half of the patients say they have experienced drug shortages.

– There are numbers to think about. Fortunately, the pharmacies solve the vast majority of shortage situations in a good way, says CEO of the Pharmacy Association Per T. Lund, in a press release.

Nevertheless, it happens around 500,000 times a year that a patient has to leave the pharmacy without a solution to a lack of medicine.

A representative sample of people over the age of 18, 1,049 people, answered the survey. 62 percent of the participants regularly use at least one prescription drug.

The attention is frightening

This year there have been supply problems for several types of medicine, including hormone patches for women, ADHD medicines, certain types of antibiotics and the diabetes medicine Ozempic.

In the survey, one in four says that they are largely concerned that it will not be possible to obtain the medicines they need.

– Lack of medicines worries many patients. Which medicines are missing varies. That perhaps makes the patients’ uncertainty even greater, says Lund.

Seven out of ten believe that the authorities are responsible for ensuring that there is enough medicine.

Serious waiting time

The Pharmacy Association points out that since Norway is a small market, it sometimes happens that the market here is given lower priority by suppliers, especially in competition with larger countries where prices are often higher.

Medicine shortages are also expressed in other ways, such as waiting times for new medicines and treatments.

During Arendal Week, Legemidelindustrien (LMI), the industry association for the pharmaceutical industry in Norway, presented a report from Menon Economics which shows that over 6,000 patients died or became sicker last year due to waiting times for new medicines.

– Through several surveys, we have confirmed that the waiting time for new medicines is too long – and I think everyone agrees on that, says CEO Leif Rune Skymoen of LMI to VG.

In Norway, in the period 2019–2022, it took an average of 494 days from the EU approving a drug to the state body Beslutningsforum for new methods approving it.