2023-10-06 06:37:43
The corridors are those of an anthill 2.0. Phones beep, printers heat up and orders pile up. The bins that now litter the corridors are filled with capsules. Green, white, purple, red, adapted to each prescription. “Amoxicillin”, “flecaine”, we read on the bottles ready to be sent to pharmacies in the region and the rest of France.
“This is what we have been making since this morningindicates Sébastien Gallice, boss of the Rosiers pharmacy, pointing to a large pile. In recent weeks, we have produced astronomical quantities, this is an unprecedented situation.”
In Marseille, it is in this impressive pharmacy in the 14th that the fight once morest shortages in the medicine market is partly organized. Approved by the Regional Health Agency (ARS), the pharmacy of the French preparatory network produces thousands of tablets every day to honor the treatments that customers struggle to find.
“We have never experienced so many breakups”
“Our job is to make tailor-made products, prescriptions for particular dosages, such as for pediatrics. We make luxury craftsmanship but we can’t fill everything. We receive so many requests from our colleagues that it becomes difficult to keep up.“, explains the man who is also president of the preparatory pharmacists of France (Pref).
Since the end of 2022 and the start of the amoxicillin shortage, pharmacies like those in Les Rosiers have manufactured more than three million tablets; or 10% of French production. 255,000 were in this establishment.
In addition to this product, and two usually made, there are corticosteroids, antidiabetics and other specific products which come out every day from this laboratory which no longer has anything extra. This week, it was flecaine – a medication taken by people with heart conditions – which made its grand debut on the establishment’s benches.
“Production got off to a flying start as this is a daily treatment. The Prefs have already manufactured 27,000 capsules, including 9,500 at home, it’s huge, it represents 35% of production.“, explains Sébastien Gallice. An endemic situation which raises fears of future tensions on other products: “We have never experienced so many shortages on such a large number of products and over such a long period.“, supports the professional.
Shortages which have an additional financial cost for the pharmacies which order. “We cannot match the prices charged by manufacturers. A preparation costs on average three times more than a wholesale producthe deciphers. For flecaine we were lucky to find an affordable French supplier of molecules and to make arrangements with the Medicines Agency to produce in large quantities in order to limit costs..”
Chain reactions
To cope with this highly unusual configuration, around fifty people work in this pharmacy and 10% more have been hired, but overtime is increasing and the teams are no longer seeing the end.
“We are delighted to be able to do all this but it comes at the cost of general exhaustion. Added to this are difficulties in recruiting and concerns regarding the supply of active ingredients and raw materials for packaging.“, explains the pharmacist. A concern that reverberates beyond the cozy walls of the lab.
Downstairs, the staff witnesses the growing fear of sometimes desperate customers. “People don’t understand and we don’t have any explanations to give them, it can create intense situations.“, testifies Caroline, a pharmacist for ten years in the structure.
While observing the customers passing by, Sébastien Gallice formulates a wish that he already knows is pious: “We pray that winter epidemics are delayed so that they do not cause chain reactions.”
The concern of cardiologists
For months, the cardiology department at Saint-Joseph hospital (8th arrondissement) has received several calls per week. At the end of the line, Marseille pharmacies lacking flecaine and looking for alternative solutions.
This drug, prescribed once morest cardiac arrhythmia, is one of those which is running out, creating a tension which concerns cardiologists. “We are facing a completely new and truly uncomfortable situation. The deficiencies are random depending on the locations and dosages, this adds work for all actors in the chain and causes concern for patients.“, indicates Patrick Khanoyan, head of the cardiology department at Saint-Joseph and president of the association of cardiologists of Provence.
“This is a problem that we are managing to manage for the moment because we are finding additional solutions, but this gives the feeling of something that will not be unique over time and we expect to have ruptures over time. other products, underlines the practitioner. We still hope that the situation will be reversed but we are starting to think regarding other ways of proceeding. In the case of flecaine however, even if there are other medications, they are more likely to cause side effects and this is not desirable for patients.”
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