Medicines: supply situation remains tense

The "Medicines Bottleneck Taskforce" was set up as a coordination body and is made up of representatives from industry, the federal government and the cantons. Its task is to decide on and implement measures that can be implemented quickly and are effective immediately, and to define and coordinate other medium- and long-term options. This was recently announced by the Federal Office for National Economic Supply (FONES).

As an important immediate measure, it has been implemented, for example, that the distribution of partial quantities is recommended for drugs with supply bottlenecks. This measure is expected to reduce the shortages of essential medicines and stabilize the supply of other medicines, the FCA said. The short-term measures for which the task force was formed have been completed, it further said. The task force could be reactivated at any time, for example, in the event of renewed acute problems with essential medicines.

Bottleneck remains

Many of the active ingredients are produced in Asia, mainly in China or India, mostly for cost reasons. According to BWL, the restrictive lockdowns in China during the Corona pandemic led to a disruption of production and logistics chains. In addition, there is a lack of generic products on the market. International economic development has led to a concentration on a few producers, which in turn has led to dependency. The supply situation for some essential medicines therefore remains tense.

The Federal Council had already described these challenges in its 2022 supply report and had put more than a dozen measures under consideration as to how the supply of vital medicines could be improved. The corresponding work would be led jointly by the FOPH and the BWL, and within interdisciplinary working groups, stakeholders from the federal government, the cantons and industry would already be holding regular discussions so that concrete proposals for improving supply could be submitted to the Federal Council.

Situation is monitored

As in the past, the supply of essential medicines (according to the ordinance SR 531.215.32) would be closely monitored by the FCA's Therapeutic Products Reporting Office. The office informs the public about supply shortages in the therapeutic products sector and, since 2016, has regularly published lists of current supply disruptions on its Website.

Source: Federal Office for National Economic Supply