A pharmaceutical industry leader told Sky News the price of antibiotic Amoxicillin has risen from 80p to £18 following 'volatile spikes in demand for drugs'.
"What's important is patients are still able to access antibiotics, which they are," a spokesperson said.
"So you have a lot of small, so-called short line wholesalers who will make hay while the sun shines and will be charging what they want, because they know there is enormous demand."Sky's data and forensics correspondent Tom Cheshire analyses the case numbers behind Strep ABut if the price falls sharply, pharmacies end up getting underpaid, the industry leader said.
The shortage is"scare-led and demand-led" but is unlikely to continue"indefinitely" and could"fade away quite quickly"."The amount the UK requires is extremely predictable but the moment anyone suggests there isn't enough of it, immediately it goes out of stock because you can't ramp up capacity that quickly.
"They are not going to wait for two, three, four days so whether it is temporary or long-term, if you look at it from a scientific level…the infection is going to spread."Parents are urged to look out for symptoms of Strep A infectionMr Ahmed said in the 10 years since he qualified, he has never known a shortage of antibiotics - and parents are"panicking".
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