Medicine shortage: Dutch people increasingly getting boxes with foreign language text

People are more often getting their medication in a different package due to medicine shortages. This is regarding medicines that have been approved in the Netherlands but are hard to get and are brought in from abroad. Patients then receive the same medication but with German text on the package, for example.

The regulator for this, the Medicines Evaluation Board, reportedly gave permission for a Temporary Different Packaging (TAV) on 117 occasions last year. This is significantly more than in 2024 (24 times) and 2023 (72 times), the annual report published on Wednesday by the board stated.

When there is a medicine shortage, doctors are permitted to get a different but comparable medicine from abroad. In the past, a so-called shortage decision was needed. The Health and Youth Care Inspectorate (IGJ) made this decision on 126 occasions last year, a little less than the previous year when there were 140 storage decisions.

The Council of State banned this way of working at the end of last year. Doctors now have to explain, per patient, why import is necessary, and the inspectorate then rules about each case individually.

In order to prevent issues health minister Fleur Agema has told the IGJ to stop checking the import of nine alternative medicines for the time being.