Pharmacy Daily | Hunt ‘doing nothing’ on shortages

LITTLE is being done by the Federal Government to alleviate medicine supply shortages, Australia Labour Party MP, Dr Mike Freelander, believes.

Highlighting ongoing issues surrounding the availability of EpiPen Jr autoinjectors, Freelander told the House of Representatives that "the Health Minister is doing nothing".

Freelander said the supply shortages flagged by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) last month (PD 25 Nov) were "greatly distressing to parents who have a child with severe anaphylaxis".

The western Sydney MP told the House a number of vital medications listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme were in "very short supply".

Alongside the EpiPen Jr shortage, he said some antipsychotic medications, beta-blockers, newer statins, and migraine relief products were running low.

"The Minister for Health is very prone to wanting to politicise the PBS, but we have such severe supply chain difficulties in Australia that we have critically short supplies of many of these life-saving medications, and the Minister has done nothing about it," he said.

"I myself have inquired of the Department of Health about these critically short supplies, and have been previously reassured that all is fine---but, in fact, it's not.

"We have critically short supplies of vital medications, [and] the Health Minister is doing nothing."

The TGA had 510 products listed as being in short supply, with 64 - including the EpiPen Jr - deemed to be critical for patients.

The medicines regulator is anticipating shortages of another 57 products, 12 of which are likely to be critical for patients.

Shortages of EpiPen Jr autoinjectors are forecast to continue until at least 31 Jan, with sponsor, Mylan, reporting manufacturing delays at Pfizer subsidiary, Meridian Medical Technologies as the cause.

The Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy (ASCIA) has noted that patients requiring an EpiPen Jr should contact their local pharmacy, while pharmacists have been told "only one EpiPen Jr should be dispensed to each patient".