“ Apart from a few medications it not only doesn’t get better, it actually gets worse. » At the town hall pharmacy in the center of Aurillac, Christophe Nouvel is inexhaustible when it comes to listing the medicines he finds difficult to obtain for his patients. Antibiotics, treatments for high blood pressure or cholesterol, antidiabetics, antiepileptics, eye treatments, etc. “ It’s very simple: when a patient arrives with a prescription for a chronic illness, in every second case we are missing one of the prescribed products. And we are not talking about bobology here, but about vital and even vital treatments for patients. »he states disappointedly.

Fortunately, in 90% of cases, the pharmacist manages to find an alternative solution by searching his shelves for another drug with identical properties or ordering the replacement drug from his wholesaler. “ The patient is then left with a treatment that may require them to take two tablets instead of one. It’s a little disturbing, but it’s a lesser evil », he explains. But increasingly, unable to find available equivalents, he has to pick up the phone and contact doctors to find other treatment options.

“ They still have to respond to us because they too are overwhelmed.”sighs Cynthia Guichard, assessing the situation “ catastrophic » for two years. Like the ten pharmacies contacted, the Marseille-based pharmacist no longer counts the hours she spends each week trying to get a missing medication. “ With every order I receive around 150 references that my wholesalers cannot provide me. »she states.

Among the staples currently almost out of stock on shelves is Augmentin, an antibiotic made from clavulanic acid and amoxicillin that is used to treat bacterial infections. “ If we manage to have a box every now and then, it’s a party »she jokes, before emphasizing: “ All of this is harmful to public health. Additionally, it is costly for Social Security because dispensing fees are incurred each time a prescription is processed. If a patient has to visit not one but two pharmacies to obtain all medications, those fees double. »

Running from one provider to another

Another solution in the event of a stalemate is to contact preparatory pharmacies, pharmacies that are authorized to produce certain medications themselves. After being called to help in November 2022 to make up for the shortage of amoxicillin, this winter they set about producing Flécain, a drug often prescribed to patients with cardiac arrhythmias and whose supply has been very seriously affecting in recent months was. Not without a certain price, because the costs for these hand-made preparations are sometimes up to three times higher than for the industrially produced medication.

You still have 65% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.