According to a survey conducted during late 2023 and early 2024, only around 19 percent of European countries who reported experiencing medicine shortages in their countries during the last 12 months allowed pharmacists to legally offer a therapeutic substitution as a solution for a medicine shortage. This graph illustrates solutions to medicine shortages that can be legally offered by pharmacists in European countries.
Solutions to medicine shortages that can be legally offered by pharmacists in European countries as of 2023
Characteristic
Percentage of respondent countries
Generic substitution
92%
Preparing a compounded formulation
50%
Changing to the same medicine with a different strength
50%
Importing the medicine from another country
46%
Sourcing the same medicine from alternative authorized sources
Original question: "Which solutions can legally be offered by pharmacists in case of a shortage? Tick all that apply."
PGEU member countries who participated in the survey include Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden.
Medicine shortage was defined as every (temporary) inability for a community or hospital pharmacy to supply patients with the medicinal product requested as a result of factors beyond their control, requiring the dispensing of an alternative agent or even discontinuation of an ongoing medical therapy.
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PGEU. (January 31, 2024). Solutions to medicine shortages that can be legally offered by pharmacists in European countries as of 2023 [Graph]. In Statista. Retrieved August 24, 2024, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/1331258/medicine-shortages-solutions-offered-by-pharmacists-europe/
PGEU. "Solutions to medicine shortages that can be legally offered by pharmacists in European countries as of 2023." Chart. January 31, 2024. Statista. Accessed August 24, 2024. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1331258/medicine-shortages-solutions-offered-by-pharmacists-europe/
PGEU. (2024). Solutions to medicine shortages that can be legally offered by pharmacists in European countries as of 2023. Statista. Statista Inc.. Accessed: August 24, 2024. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1331258/medicine-shortages-solutions-offered-by-pharmacists-europe/
PGEU. "Solutions to Medicine Shortages That Can Be Legally Offered by Pharmacists in European Countries as of 2023." Statista, Statista Inc., 31 Jan 2024, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1331258/medicine-shortages-solutions-offered-by-pharmacists-europe/
PGEU, Solutions to medicine shortages that can be legally offered by pharmacists in European countries as of 2023 Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1331258/medicine-shortages-solutions-offered-by-pharmacists-europe/ (last visited August 24, 2024)
Solutions to medicine shortages that can be legally offered by pharmacists in European countries as of 2023 [Graph], PGEU, January 31, 2024. [Online]. Available: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1331258/medicine-shortages-solutions-offered-by-pharmacists-europe/
