2023-09-20 15:27:06
Published on September 20, 2023 at 3:27 p.m.
The delivery of drugs to the unit will be made compulsory for certain antibiotics in supply shortage, a measure intended to combat shortages and antibiotic resistance, a source close to the matter told AFP this Wednesday.
“There is no rationing. The idea is to make the distribution of medications to the unit compulsory when there is tension. But not all, only certain antibiotics,” said this source, confirming information from franceinfo as the presentation of the 2024 Social Security financing bill approaches. “There is also an interest in fighting antibiotic resistance like this,” she added.
Reduce waste
This decision could also help reduce waste by delivering the exact number of tablets prescribed, in a country where the consumption of antibiotics remains among the highest in Europe and which was faced last winter with shortages of amoxicillin, a antibiotic commonly used in certain bacterial infections.
This project leaves pharmacists perplexed: they wonder about the practical arrangements and point out a traceability problem. “Cutting out the blisters (packaging shells, Editor’s note) is not the right answer. In terms of lot number traceability, it’s a real hassle,” recently estimated the president of the Union of Community Pharmacists’ Unions (Uspo). “There is no consensus on single delivery from an industrial point of view,” underlines the pharmaceutical laboratory lobby (Leem).
Strict standards
The packaging of pharmaceutical products is governed by strict standards. Single-unit sales were tested in France between November 2014 and 2015 for around ten antibiotics in 75 city pharmacies, an experiment carried out by the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm).
Following this experiment, the principle of single dispensing of certain medications, notably antibiotics, was ratified in the anti-waste law (Agec law of 2020) and the system made possible from 2022.
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