The drug Natalie Sinclair takes to keep her alive is among hundreds of medications that have been in short supply in Australia, but advocates fear stockholding laws for suppliers are having little impact on the ground.
Earlier this year, Ms Sinclair, who lives with Addison’s disease, made dozens of frantic phone calls to pharmacies amid a shortage of the drug Hysone.
“It was pretty terrifying,” the Melbourne resident said.
“There’s no stock and no explanation as to why there’s no stock.”
Her body does not make the hormone cortisol in response to stress. The drug she takes mimics cortisol and keeps her alive.
The TGA lists 428 drugs as in “short supply” and 46 as “critical” but said most can be easily substituted.
Patients and pharmacists say it is not that simple.
Tasmanian pharmacist Judy Lam said there were problems with safety and compliance with alternatives, and it often left patients and pharmacies out of pocket.
Michael Ryan said pharmacy chains and hospitals could start awarding tenders based on more than just price and include guarantees of supply.
“When you get multiple suppliers, all supplying or trying to win a market, it’s a race to the bottom,” he said.
“If price keeps plummeting, so also does the profit margin and the ability to do anything around storage and supply disappears.”
He said manufacturers had to meet high quality standards and invest in new drugs, all the while battling competition from generic products.
Health Minister Mark Butler said he was optimistic laws requiring manufacturers to keep four-to-six months of drugs on hand for 2,900 critical brands would ease the situation.
(ABC)
