EMA publishes catalogue of medicines in short supply
Includes data on the extent of and reason for drug shortages
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has launched a public catalogue of medicines that are in short supply in more than one European Union (EU) member state. Its wants to offer up-to-date information and the catalogue includes data on: the extent of and reason for such problems; whether the difficulty is ongoing or resolved; specific information for patients and healthcare professionals; plus links to relevant related documents.
'Over the past few years, there have been a number of public-health crises caused by supply shortages of medicines as a result of manufacturing issues and good-manufacturing-practice (GMP) compliance problems,' said the Agency.
EMA noted that these have forced healthcare providers to switch to alternative treatments and set-up priority-access programmes for at-risk patients.
The Agency thinks that pharma manufacturers and healthcare providers could plan ahead better to resolve or avoid such shortages using this database.
EMA held a workshop in October on avoiding and mitigating shortages caused by manufacturing and quality problems.