Netherlands' medicines shortage bigger than ever

The Netherlands’ medicines shortage is greater than ever, according to figures from the pharmacy organization KNMP. Last year, 2,292 medicines were unavailable nationwide for two or more weeks, compared to 1,514 in 2022.

About 5 million of the 13 million medicine users in the Netherlands were affected by at least one medicine shortage last year, according to the KNMP. The medicine shortages have a major impact on patients.

Last year’s shortages affected anti-seizure medication, essential antibiotics, medicines to treat Parkinson’s symptoms, medicines to treat chest pain caused by heart problems, cancer drugs, and at least one drug to combat psychosis.

The KNMP speaks of a shortage if the medicine is not available anywhere in the country for more than two weeks. If the medicine becomes available again and then runs out again, it counts as two shortages. On average, medicines were unavailable for 107 days last year.

“Halfway through the year, we already saw that this was coming, but these are numbers that nevertheless shock you,” KNMP chairman and pharmacist Aris Prins said about the record shortage. “It is no longer a given for the patient that the desired medication is available. That is a sad observation.”

A father told RTL Nieuws that he has to order medicine to treat his 1-year-old son’s epileptic seizures from Switzerland. “Our son has Tuberous Sclerosis Complex (TSC), a serious condition in which small, benign growths develop everywhere in the body. Small thickenings develop in the brain, and that causes almost all children with TSC to develop epilepsy. Only one medicine can properly suppress the epileptic seizures, and that is vigabatrin,” the father said.

“The doctor said that we should get vigabatrin as soon as possible. With a prolonged seizure, the risk of brain damage increases. Start taking the medication sooner rather than later, he stressed.” The family immediately went to their local pharmacy, but it proved more complicated than that. “The medicine was not available in the Netherlands. We had to go to Belgium or Germany for it. Then you start to panic.”