MILAN – Medicines that cannot be found on the shelves of pharmacies. And not just any medicines: they range from the one used to treat neuropathic pain and generalized anxiety disorder, to some antidepressants, antiepileptics up to essential medicines for the treatment of degenerative diseases, such as Parkinson's disease. Their shortage forces pharmacists into painful and useless "treasure hunts". And the same goes for the sick, who then obviously pour their (righteous) ire on the professionals. A well-known problem at all levels of Italian healthcare, but so far remained without solutions. However, the situation has become unsustainable to such an extent that this morning Federfarma Roma has to submit a complaint to the. Public Prosecutor's Office precisely to denounce "the serious shortcomings in the area", or even "the unavailability for long periods (more than 20 days) of some drugs", especially innovative ones, with high therapeutic value, high cost and without an alternative equivalent.
THE PHARMACIST'S LETTER – Let Paolo Borasi, owner of a pharmacy in Milan, explain what is happening to the Corriere della Sera: «For some time now, humiliated as a professional, I have been witnessing this serious phenomenon: even essential medicines that are absent ("the company does not deliver") or "limited", that is, they deliver a piece every now and then. Thus antithrombotic or antiparkinsonian drugs, "life savers" and so on cannot help patients, who go through a real ordeal to get what is prescribed. Investigating, the truth emerges: the aforementioned drugs, since they cost much more abroad, come from companies, wholesalers or pharmacists themselves, "hoarded", sold to the best buyer. The pricing policy in Italy is wrong (a box of cortisone costs less than a coffee, for example), but a scandal like this on people's skin shouldn't be passed over in silence. Moreover, it seems that these drugs arrive with a certain regularity to the large pharmacy chains. And then the capillarity? Do small pharmacies have to make an auto-da-fe?».
PARALLEL EXPORT – The crux of the matter seems to have a precise name therefore: parallel trade, parallel trade or, in technical language, arbitrage. «The advantage for those who operate in the parallel market - explains the president of Federfarma Rome, Franco Caprino - is only economic and dictated by the capital gain, since exports will only take place for those drugs which
