Doctors and pharmacists are warning there could be serious consequences for patients if the shortage of hundreds of medications isn't addressed soon.
Doctors around the country are scrambling to find alternatives for 345 medications in short supplyOne diabetes drug, Ozempic, is facing a shortage after going viral on social media
"There's been diabetic medications, antidepressants, heart medications, all of these things have been unavailable on and off." She takes two medications to manage her symptoms, but for the last eight weeks, one of them has been impossible to find."I take a medication for muscle spasms and I also take Ditropan, which is for an overactive bladder," she told 7.30.There is an alternative available, but it's six times the price and nowhere near as effective.
That has left Australia dangerously dependent on just a few countries for its supply of medication, and patients like Ashleigh Rae Cooper say the pandemic has shown Australia needs to boost its own manufacturing capacity. "I don't want to begrudge people for wanting to drop a few kilos if they wanted to, or needed to," she told 7.30.
"I think it is really plugging gaps asking pharmacists and GPs and patients to solve the problem by limiting the use or the supply of a drug, when really the solution needs to be coming from much higher up the supply chain."Last year, the government struck a deal with the pharmaceutical industry that will force them to hold a minimum of four to six months' supply of critical medicines, but the new rules don't kick in until next July.
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