The number of times that a medicine was not available for more than two weeks in the Netherlands almost doubled in 2019. This is evident from the annual overview of drug shortages by the pharmacist organization KNMP.
In particular, there was a shortage of creams, blood pressure lowers and stomach acid inhibitors such as ranitidine. There was a deficit 769 times in 2018, and 1492 times last year.
In 41 percent of the deficits, the manufacturer gave no reason for the problems. In 20 percent of the cases it was withdrawn from the market. In most cases (73 percent) deficits could be compensated for by a medicine with the same active substance.
In addition to complications in production, distribution or quality, according to the pharmacy umbrella, the problems also arise because our country is in the back of the line when production starts up again after a shortage. The Netherlands is less attractive for manufacturers because of the low drug prices.
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