by Maria Giovanna Faiella
No to do-it-yourself but consult your doctor who will activate the channels to guarantee therapy to your patients. Aifa authorizes the importation of the medicine from abroad. The list of temporarily shortage drugs contains nearly 3,500 products
Pancreatic enzymes are not found. The cry of alarm on the shortage of these medicines, necessary for many patients, was launched yesterday by Fedez by publishing a post on Instagram: I am receiving lots of emails about a problem that I have also encountered – wrote the rapper -. Having had pancreatic surgery, like other patients I need to take pancreatic enzymes to be able to eat and assimilate food. It seems like they haven’t been found for a month now. Fedez explained that he had a small supply of the medicine but is running out of it, and he can’t find it in the pharmacy, like many others.
Probably in shortage until December 2025
Why are pancreatic enzymes nowhere to be found? In reality, as he had already explained in one the Italian Medicines Agency noted last October (Aifa), it may happen because these pancrelipase-based medicines are currently distributed on a limited basis, due to production problems and high demand. The shortage will probably last until December 2025, as stated in the list of temporarily lacking drugs published on the AIFA website.
Which patients need it and why
But who are these medicines for, and why? Gianni Sava, professor of pharmacology at the University of Trieste and member of the Italian Society of Pharmacology, explains: The medicine contains enzymes normally produced by the pancreas, such as amylase which aids the digestion of sugars, protease that of proteins, lipase which helps to digest fats. For example, patients who have had pancreatic cancer or other gastric tumors or acute pancreatitis need it. The deficient one, based on pancrelipase, the only medicine authorized in our country.
No to do-it-yourself but consult your doctor
What should patients who need it but can’t find it do? First of all, no to do-it-yourself, looking for a possible “substitute” (for example supplements) to buy on the internet – warns the pharmacologist -. The medicine, in fact, is prescribed by the doctor based on the patient’s needs, with a therapeutic plan which indicates quantities, dosages, etc. If you have difficulty finding the drug – advises Professor Sava – you should report the problem to your doctor (family doctor or specialist), who will activate the appropriate channels so that your client does not miss out on therapy.
What healthcare companies and pharmacies can do
The Ministry of Health confirms that the problem was known following Fedez’s complaint, recalling that, as already happens when other drugs are lacking, the necessary procedures are activated to guarantee continuity of therapy for each patient. If, as in this case, the medicine cannot be replaced because there are no equivalents on the market, AIFA allows healthcare facilities to import similar medicines authorized abroad, in the event that the facilities themselves encounter discontinuities in the supply. , at the level of the distribution networks to which they have access. Furthermore, – the Ministry of Health reminds us – pharmacies that cannot find the product in the usual distribution channels can place a direct order with the holder (of the marketing authorization of the drug, ed.) via the specific Customer service service.
The list of those who cannot be found grows longer
It must be said that the problem of unobtainable drugs is not new for many patients, forced to wander from one pharmacy to another to find the medicine they usually take. And the AIFA list of deficient drugs, published on the Agency’s portal, has grown in recent years. Suffice it to say that as of January 26th there was a shortage of almost 3,500 products (exactly 3,462), even though in several cases there are more dosages and pharmaceutical forms (tablets, injections, etc.) for the same specialties. Among the unobtainable drugs there are, among others: anticoagulants, products for respiratory diseases, vaccines.
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January 28, 2024 (modified January 28, 2024 | 1.16 pm)
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