if the drugs have been used less over a period of 2 years then the way stores order from the suppliers changes.
the suppliers have less since less was ordered. and so on.
demand spike and system is overloaded thus creating a shortage.
welcome to the downside of "just in time" style of inventory management .
now my opinion on this can be wrong. but it seems to be that the people least effective at solving the problem are the ones the media is paying attention to =>
Topic: Health Canada reveals causes of drug shortages (Read 49 times)
Quote
Departmental officials told MPs on the House of Commons health committee that the data is “confidential business information” which belongs to the companies importing the drugs, but said they will make the information public as soon as possible.
OTTAWA — Health Canada officials said Tuesday they can’t reveal how many more doses of children’s pain and fever medication are on the way to help address the ongoing shortage of the drugs.
Departmental officials told MPs on the House of Commons health committee that the data is “confidential business information” which belongs to the companies importing the drugs, but said they will make the information public as soon as possible.
Opposition MPs had little time for that answer, as well as the officials’ insistence they’ve been working on alleviating the shortage since it began in the spring, including with doctors and pharmaceutical companies, and that parents’ panic buying and stockpiling of the drugs is in part to blame.
The numerous heated exchanges highlighted the extent to which the issue has moved beyond just frustrated and frightened parents and into the political arena for the Liberal government, seized upon first by Conservative MPs earlier this fall and now by the New Democrats and Bloc Québécois as well.
Conservative MP Laila Goodridge accused Health Canada of not publicly addressing the issue until political pressure started being applied this fall, suggesting that parents just thought they were “going crazy” rather than there being an actual shortage.
“This is an absolute failure from the government leadership,” she said.
The committee hearing Tuesday did provide some behind-the-scenes glimpses into the genesis of the shortage and the work being done to alleviate it.
Health Canada officials told MPs they first became aware of the problem in the spring amid reports from Ontario and Newfoundland and Labrador of shortages of the medications.
They said that while Health Canada offered manufacturers options then to import medications from elsewhere, the decision was made to scale up domestic production dramatically.
Health Canada, drug manufacturers and stakeholders, including the Canadian Pediatric Society, were in communication the entire time, and Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos was being briefed, the officials said.
But by August, it became clear that increased production was not going to be sufficient to meet demand, MPs heard, in part because reports of shortages led to more people buying up the medications, creating further pressures.
That is the government’s fault, said BQ MP Jean-Denis Garon, because it never clearly communicated what was happening.
“You are part of this panic among parents, and you are part of the abnormal increase in demand,” he said in French.
The situation is “unprecedented,” said Gerry Herrington of the Food, Health and Consumer Products Association, whose members manufacture the drugs.
He said drugmakers had already planned for higher-than-normal demand for this year’s cold and flu season, but that demand started to rise back in the spring ahead of expectations. That put pressure on inventories, which was further exacerbated in August when a hospital circulated a letter suggesting patients get a prescription for the drugs to ensure they would have access.
Herrington said that ended up being interpreted as a warning that prescriptions would be required for the products, creating demand that was “three or four times above normal,” further emptying shelves and creating more pressure at a time when supply chains were still not recovered from the pandemic and there were rising rates of illness globally.
But he said all along, the drug makers and government have been working on ways to ease the crunch.
He cited Monday’s announcement that foreign supplies of children’s acetaminophen for retail outlets and community pharmacies are on the way, on top of the approval recently to import children’s and infant ibuprofen and acetaminophen for hospitals.
“We believe these efforts will result in a market improvement in access to these medicines in the coming days and weeks,” he told the committee.
“With that said, we still have no clear line of sight to the day when the number of these viral cases begins to normalize and demand for these products returns to something resembling normal.”
Garon also raised the question of whether delays in bringing supplies from abroad was linked to bilingual labelling requirements, as has been suggested.
That was discounted by Hugues Mousseau, the director general of the Quebec association of drug distributors, who called it a “false debate.” He said there are easy solutions that Quebec companies are familiar with.
The drugs now being imported to Canada come from the U.S. and Australia, with the government making sure they’re being flown over to avoid further delays, officials said Tuesday.
But when asked Tuesday how many doses are coming and where they are going, Health Canada said it couldn’t provide the answer.
“We work quite closely with market authorization holders, and I’m sure you can appreciate when we have confidential business information in our possession, then we need to treat it as such,” said Linsey Hollett, the director general of health product compliance for Health Canada.
“So quantities have been established, but because of confidential business information, I’m not able to share them.”
NDP Don Davies was incredulous at her answer, noting that when the government was buying COVID-19 vaccines, it had no issue releasing the numbers.
“When the government wants to release numbers to try to make itself look good, when it’s procuring lots of COVID vaccines, then commercial sensitivities doesn’t seem to be a problem in terms of releasing numbers of doses,” he said.
“But now, when there’s a shortage all of a sudden the government is claiming commercial sensitivity, they’re not releasing numbers …”
Hollett said the government hopes to have that information available online in due course.
“The need for that information, and the importance of that information has been recognized,” she said.
https://www.thestar.com/politics/federal/2022/11/15/health-canada-says-more-childrens-pain-medication-is-on-the-way-but-not-how-much.html
OTTAWA — Health Canada officials said Tuesday they can’t reveal how many more doses of children’s pain and fever medication are on the way to help address the ongoing shortage of the drugs.
Departmental officials told MPs on the House of Commons health committee that the data is “confidential business information” which belongs to the companies importing the drugs, but said they will make the information public as soon as possible.
Opposition MPs had little time for that answer, as well as the officials’ insistence they’ve been working on alleviating the shortage since it began in the spring, including with doctors and pharmaceutical companies, and that parents’ panic buying and stockpiling of the drugs is in part to blame.
The numerous heated exchanges highlighted the extent to which the issue has moved beyond just frustrated and frightened parents and into the political arena for the Liberal government, seized upon first by Conservative MPs earlier this fall and now by the New Democrats and Bloc Québécois as well.
Conservative MP Laila Goodridge accused Health Canada of not publicly addressing the issue until political pressure started being applied this fall, suggesting that parents just thought they were “going crazy” rather than there being an actual shortage.
“This is an absolute failure from the government leadership,” she said.
The committee hearing Tuesday did provide some behind-the-scenes glimpses into the genesis of the shortage and the work being done to alleviate it.
Health Canada officials told MPs they first became aware of the problem in the spring amid reports from Ontario and Newfoundland and Labrador of shortages of the medications.
They said that while Health Canada offered manufacturers options then to import medications from elsewhere, the decision was made to scale up domestic production dramatically.
Health Canada, drug manufacturers and stakeholders, including the Canadian Pediatric Society, were in communication the entire time, and Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos was being briefed, the officials said.
But by August, it became clear that increased production was not going to be sufficient to meet demand, MPs heard, in part because reports of shortages led to more people buying up the medications, creating further pressures.
That is the government’s fault, said BQ MP Jean-Denis Garon, because it never clearly communicated what was happening.
“You are part of this panic among parents, and you are part of the abnormal increase in demand,” he said in French.
The situation is “unprecedented,” said Gerry Herrington of the Food, Health and Consumer Products Association, whose members manufacture the drugs.
He said drugmakers had already planned for higher-than-normal demand for this year’s cold and flu season, but that demand started to rise back in the spring ahead of expectations. That put pressure on inventories, which was further exacerbated in August when a hospital circulated a letter suggesting patients get a prescription for the drugs to ensure they would have access.
Herrington said that ended up being interpreted as a warning that prescriptions would be required for the products, creating demand that was “three or four times above normal,” further emptying shelves and creating more pressure at a time when supply chains were still not recovered from the pandemic and there were rising rates of illness globally.
But he said all along, the drug makers and government have been working on ways to ease the crunch.
He cited Monday’s announcement that foreign supplies of children’s acetaminophen for retail outlets and community pharmacies are on the way, on top of the approval recently to import children’s and infant ibuprofen and acetaminophen for hospitals.
“We believe these efforts will result in a market improvement in access to these medicines in the coming days and weeks,” he told the committee.
“With that said, we still have no clear line of sight to the day when the number of these viral cases begins to normalize and demand for these products returns to something resembling normal.”
Garon also raised the question of whether delays in bringing supplies from abroad was linked to bilingual labelling requirements, as has been suggested.
That was discounted by Hugues Mousseau, the director general of the Quebec association of drug distributors, who called it a “false debate.” He said there are easy solutions that Quebec companies are familiar with.
The drugs now being imported to Canada come from the U.S. and Australia, with the government making sure they’re being flown over to avoid further delays, officials said Tuesday.
But when asked Tuesday how many doses are coming and where they are going, Health Canada said it couldn’t provide the answer.
“We work quite closely with market authorization holders, and I’m sure you can appreciate when we have confidential business information in our possession, then we need to treat it as such,” said Linsey Hollett, the director general of health product compliance for Health Canada.
“So quantities have been established, but because of confidential business information, I’m not able to share them.”
NDP Don Davies was incredulous at her answer, noting that when the government was buying COVID-19 vaccines, it had no issue releasing the numbers.
“When the government wants to release numbers to try to make itself look good, when it’s procuring lots of COVID vaccines, then commercial sensitivities doesn’t seem to be a problem in terms of releasing numbers of doses,” he said.
“But now, when there’s a shortage all of a sudden the government is claiming commercial sensitivity, they’re not releasing numbers …”
Hollett said the government hopes to have that information available online in due course.
“The need for that information, and the importance of that information has been recognized,” she said.
https://www.thestar.com/politics/federal/2022/11/15/health-canada-says-more-childrens-pain-medication-is-on-the-way-but-not-how-much.html
....
Pharmaceutical drug shortages in canada.
There doesn't appear to be clear or concise information available for what is causing it, or when circumstances might improve. It has declined into a blame game where consumers are blaming the government for drug shortages. And the government is blaming consumers for shortages claiming they overbought the market and are hoarding supplies.
There is a chance these shortages could become the new normal standard. Which could be frightening to consider for those who require medical supplies to live.
Supply chain disruptions are being felt worldwide and no one appears to have a definitive answer to them. What can consumers do to alleviate and address these issues.
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