The British Association of Pharmaceutical Wholesalers (BAPW) has called on pharmacists and manufacturers to support objective monitoring and reporting of brand-name medicine supplies. The association stressed that the introduction of a third-party monitoring and survey service of medicine supplies to pharmacies and dispensing doctors needed ‘urgent consideration’.

The BAPW adds that although the various stakeholders are working together more closely, ‘inefficiencies remain in the supply chain’, which the BAPW feels could be rebalanced by ‘regulatory enforcement’ and ‘adjustment’.

Meanwhile, the ABPI are calling for the legal separation of pharmacies’ wholesaling and dispensing activities to ensure patients ‘get priority’ when medicines are in short supply according to Chemist+Druggist. The ABPI believe that separating the activities would ensure pharmacists put patients before business.

Currently in the UK there are 1,800 wholesaler licences, which enable pharmacists to export medicines for profit, possibly exacerbating drug shortages. The UK medicines authority–Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency–has already stated that pharmacists with ‘unusual purchasing patterns’ could face investigation over their exporting businesses.

The views of the APBI and BAPW are expected to be presented at the first oral evidence session of the All-Party Pharmacy Group’s (APPG’s) Inquiry into medicine shortages, which was scheduled at the House of Commons on 24 January 2012.

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