According to the Federal Ministry of Health, the supply situation for children’s medication, which was recently critical, has eased again. “The purchasing and sales figures in the pharmacies have balanced out,” said a spokeswoman in Berlin on Monday. The supply of children’s medicines from an “urgent list” has developed positively and is secured. The background is, among other things, a closer observation of the market situation in industry and wholesale. There are still bottlenecks only in individual cases of active ingredients.
For the cold season, the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices published an “urgent list” in September with a good 30 preparations that should be procured with the highest priority – including several antibiotics, nose drops, fever-reducing and pain-relieving juices and suppositories. At a meeting with representatives of pharmacies, doctors and manufacturers, Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) made it clear that production of painkillers, fever juices and antibiotics had increased significantly compared to winter 2022.
According to the ministry, there are still shortages of the antibiotics azithromycin and clarithromycin. However, the supply will continue to improve through upcoming industrial deliveries. Through close monitoring and the readjustment of production and procurement, the supply of the asthma drug salbutamol was ensured. What should be highlighted is the good availability of the antibiotics cefixime and amoxicillin/clavulanic acid, among others.
The ministry explained that the supply situation for adult medicines is currently stable. There are bottlenecks for individual active ingredients and they cannot always be avoided due to the complex production with long lead times.
