PHARMACISTS can expect supply chain issues to get worse before they get better, Pharmacy Guild of Australia National President, Trent Twomey, warns.
Addressing the Guild's inaugural Pharmacy Industry Roadshow in Sydney last week, Twomey said shortages are likely to continue until the national medicines stockpile is built up by 01 Jul 2023, under the Federal Government's agreements with Medicines Australia and the Generic and Biosimilar Medicines Association (GBMA) (PD 07 Sep 2021).
"The reason it's going to get worse before it gets better is because 90% of the medicines in Australia are made overseas," he said.
"And when we had all of those borders come down over the [COVID-19] pandemic, we couldn't get roof trusses, we couldn't get a whole raft of things, and we couldn't get essential medicines.
"So the Commonwealth Government, in conjunction with GBMA, has said we are going to create a national medicines stockpile.
"This doesn't mean Albo [Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese] is going to rent a big shed and we're going to put a whole heap of drugs in the shed.
"What it means is if you are a drug company and you want to list a medicine on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, you must keep a minimum of six months [supply] onshore.
"This is a process to build, and as those companies build their reserves what's going to happen is you're going to experience supply shortages and outages.
"They have until 01 Jul - it was 01 Apr - to build this stockpile, so we're going to continue to see shortages and outages until that stockpile is built."
Twomey added that price increases on hundreds of low-cost, high-volume products, which come into effect from 01 Oct, are exacerbating current shortages (PD 18 Jul).
"Because the price is going up, a lot of people have stockpiled those medicines," he said.
"So it's created a short-term gap in the supply chain as well."
Meanwhile, the Guild has advised pharmacies to review their pricing of medicines impacted by the price increases, to avoid losing out as a result of the changes.
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