Emerging in 2021, the shortage of amoxicillin – the antibiotic of first choice, with or without association with clavulanic acid, for all the most common infectious diseases, essential for pediatric primary care – has begun to be carefully monitored at European level since November of last year. But, despite the optimism initially shown by the EMA, which in January spoke of a situation that would improve “in a few months”, the problem has become increasingly serious enough to take on the contours of an emergency. He writes it The nation.
In our country, including Florence and Tuscany, amoxicillin has been unobtainable for weeks: for some formats the end date of the shortage is indicated by the end of May but for other types it will be necessary to wait even beyond the summer for a return to full availability.
In such a scenario, he explains The nationthe Cultural Association of Pediatricians (Acp), the Italian Society of Pediatrics (Sip) and the Italian Federation of Pediatricians (Fim), have launched an appeal to the Italian Medicines Agency (Aifa) so that “efficient initiatives are promptly activated to make up for to the shortage of essential medicines, which today limits the quality of treatment of frequent infections in the whole population”.
Shortage of medicines, the pharmacy returns to do-it-yourself to prepare those that cannot be found
If starting from 2021 the shortage concerned some formulations for hospital use for some months – the pediatricians explain – the shortage at the territorial level concerns all formulations of amoxicillin. The main cause, according to the EMA, is the peak in respiratory infections which, last winter, led to a sharp increase in the demand for antibiotics. All accompanied by delays in deliveries and problems in production capacity that are affecting the pharmaceutical industry worldwide.
Meanwhile, the presidents of Acp, Sip and Fim – Stefania Manetti, Annamaria Staiano, and Antonio D’Avino – point the finger at the pharmaceutical lawsuits that would not be interested in producing an “antibiotic that is too inexpensive”. In the past, still emphasizes The nationit had already happened for oral penicillin and erythromycin but – warn the pediatricians – the abandonment of amoxicillin “can represent a serious risk for public health given the large number of the population that may need it”.
It is, in fact, an effective and well-tolerated antibiotic, with low risks of adverse effects and which contributes to the control of antibiotic resistance, of which Italy holds the sad record in Europe, together with Spain. “Effective and low-cost treatment tools – underline the paediatricians – must be made available regardless of any market logic”.
Making the shortage of amoxicillin more worrying, he concludes The nationis also the increase in cases of positivity to group A beta-haemolytic streptococcus. To resolve this deficiency, a table has been opened at the Ministry of Health: the proposal that comes from the paediatricians’ associations is to involve the military pharmaceutical plant in production from Florence.