Medicines shortage: over 1500 pharmacies engaged in the galenic activity

The updated map of the pharmacies that prepare medicines, region by region, is available on the website of the Federation of Pharmacists

FOFI – 7 July 2023

Rome, 7 July 2023 – There are over 1500 Italian pharmacies that prepare galenic medicinal products in their laboratories, mainly oral pharmaceutical forms and for skin application such as sachets, capsules, tablets, semi-solids for skin use, followed by rectal formulations, inhalation drugs and solutions for ophthalmic. One pharmacy out of two is also specialized in preparing preparations for veterinary use.

This is what emerges from "Census of Pharmacies that prepare preparations", created by the Federation of Orders of Italian Pharmacists (FOFI) in collaboration with the Italian Society of Preparatory Pharmacists (SIFAP), with the purpose of fprovide the Ministry of Health with useful information to implement an effective strategy to combat the phenomenon of shortage of medicines, but also to offer concrete support to citizens in finding the nearest pharmacy capable of satisfying their health needs. To this end, on the FOFI website (www.fofi.it/censimento_farmacie_galeniche.php) the map is available, divided by region, of the pharmacies that carry out galenic preparations, with an indication of the types of pharmaceutical forms available. The list will be constantly updated with the new pharmacies that will join the census.

"The shortage of some classes of medicines continues to represent a serious problem, to which the Federation drew the attention of health institutions already in the spring of last year, in a pandemic scenario and difficult geopolitical balances that have affected the supply of active ingredients and materials necessary for the packaging of medicines”, declared the president FOFI, Andrea Mandelli. “The last flu season has highlighted, once again, the need to identify effective tools to counter shortages and mitigate the inconvenience that citizens are faced with in the search for essential medicines for the treatment of their pathologies.

This emergency situation has shown, in an even more evident way, how fundamental the professional competence of the pharmacist is in the preparation of galenic preparations, also to make up for the unavailability of industrial products and respond to the specific treatment needs of patients who would otherwise remain unsatisfied. For this reason, together with SIFAP, we wanted to survey the pharmacies they set up medicines and we have made this information available primarily to the Ministry of Health, for assessments of competence, but also to individual citizens, to limit situations of discomfort and guarantee therapeutic appropriateness. A personal thank you goes to the presidents of the territorial Orders who have promoted participation in the survey among their members and to the colleagues who have joined it".

“The medicines prepared in the pharmacy – declared the president of SIFAP, Paola Minghetti – have always represented the only therapeutic possibility when, for various reasons, the pharmaceutical industry is unable to satisfy a particular therapeutic need. These are, for example, dosages that must be varied over time or established ad hoc for the patient, the need for suitable pharmaceutical forms or those without excipients to which the patient is allergic or intolerant, patients with rare pathologies without authorized medicines. In recent months, the preparation of preparations has become increasingly important to counteract the deficiencies, while aware that masterful preparation may not be the optimal solution (in terms of costs, capillarity) to solve this problem, it is allowing even significant clinical situations to be resolved. In all these situations, SIFAP in collaboration with SIFO undertakes to provide the operating instructions for setting up the preparation in a uniform and safe way throughout the national territory."