TREVISO – The drug shortage, even those of more common use, are becoming more and more serious in Treviso. A situation that is creating more and more inconvenience for both citizens and pharmacies, forced to find alternative therapies with the help of general practitioners or to carry out ad hoc checks on the availability of stock of the various companies present in the area to guarantee the customer the drug you need. The first signs had started in mid-October, despite the fact that every now and then a package of the requested drug arrived which was purchased within a few hours, and some pharmacies had begun to produce the most requested products in their laboratories such as antipyretic syrups, necessary for children in this period of flu. “Mainly lack of ibuprofen-based anti-inflammatories, seasonal ones like mucolytic syrups, cough suppressants, other mucolytics such as acetylcysteine, nurofen syrup and all the equivalents for children – explains Daria Galaverni of the Fanoli Pharmacy in Piazza Duomo – But the list is endless, these are only the main and most requested, many more would be needed».
THE PROBLEM
The main problem is the lack of raw materials, not only for the production of the drug itself, but also aluminum, paper and plastics for the production of packages and blisters. An extremely complex situation never experienced before, generated by multiple causes, primarily the war and the Covid pandemic which has led one of the world‘s leading producers, China, to lock itself within its borders, increasingly decreasing exported medicines. And the timing for solving the problem is still unclear, despite talk of a recovery in the next month. «The problem concerns everyone, we are all connected to the same supply chain and we get our supplies from different warehouses, many of which are common to many pharmacies and so many find themselves out of stock – explains Livio Patelli, owner of the Patelli pharmacy in the Latin Quarter – I’m also talking about very common drugs, if you think of the different forms in which ibuprofen comes. A critical situation that we face by networking, exchanging drugs or sending the customer to other pharmacies. But it’s not just our problem, I learned that in Germany they are in a similar situation». An albeit partial solution to the problem had been found by the Patelli pharmacy, which had started producing ibuprofen-based antipyretic syrups in its own galenic laboratory, but now even this option is no longer available and we can do nothing but wait. “Now the ibuprofen powder that we needed to produce the syrup ourselves doesn’t even arrive anymore – explains Patelli – but theoretically at least this should arrive in the next week”.
Situation similar also to the Milioni Pharmacy in Piazza Borsa. «It is a crisis of raw materials, even those necessary for the packaging – explains Luisa Zanoni, owner of the pharmacy – in China they have blocked the exports of ibuprofen and paracetamol and I doubt that there is more to it than the need to deal with the Covid . In 30 years of business I have never seen anything like this. There has been an absolute shortage in the last two weeks.’ Same music also at the Eden – Stiore Trevigiana Pharmacy. «With the seasonal influences, the requests have increased dramatically – explains Alvise Scalco – and to cope we try to direct the client elsewhere or have the doctor in charge change the therapy». But a word of comfort comes from Franco Muschietti, president of FarmacieUnite: «It is true that in 40 years I have never seen anything like this, but there are alternatives to the Chinese market. By January we should return to normal regimes ».