RPSGB to Press Government to Take Urgent Action to Resolve Problems Over Medicines Supply

LONDON, December 17 - The Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (RPSGB) today announced
that it will be calling on government to take urgent action to resolve the
immediate crisis in medicines availability to prevent patients being put at
risk of potential serious harm as a result of being unable to obtain
appropriate medication. The RPSGB Council has taken this step in response to
increasing stock shortages across a range of widely supplied medicines for
chronic conditions, shortages which appear in recent months to have worsened.
Additionally the Society will be formally approaching the government to ask
for the urgent establishment of an Inquiry into the supply of medicines to
pharmacies to find a long term solution to this problem.

Currently over 40 well known medicines are officially acknowledged to be
in short supply. These fall across a wide range of therapeutic categories and
include among many others, anti hypertensives, epilepsy treatments, and even
some medicines to treat cancer and prevent rejection following organ
transplantation.

Pharmacists have been reporting increasing and notable shortages to the
Society and other bodies. The main problem appears to stem from the weakness
of sterling in comparison to the Euro; a weakness which has increased the
demand for UK sourced medicines as the supply of parallel-imported medicines
from EU member states has dwindled as their relative cost has risen. The
economic variance has led too, to an increase in the export of UK sourced
medicines into Europe where they have become competively priced. According to
RPSGB President Steve Churton, the situation is complex. "The reason for the
Society taking this action is our concern for patients who cannot get the
treatment they need at the time they need it. Our members are spending long
fruitless hours chasing down supplies which are increasingly difficult to
obtain."

"Medicines manufacture has a long lead time and arguably more medicines
may still not reach UK patients if the result of more manufacturing simply
means more exporting. In the meantime, all parties involved in the medicines
supply chain are blaming each other for the problem. The Society fears that
if we do not identify a solution through real understanding of the problem,
then patient care will continue to suffer. We are asking the government to
take immediate action to ensure that the UK medicines supply is maintained at
the appropriate level to guarantee patient care. We also want to see an
independent inquiry into the issue to develop long term solutions to prevent
this situation ever occurring again."

Notes to Editors:

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (RPSGB) is the
professional body for pharmacists and the regulatory body for pharmacists and
pharmacy technicians in England, Scotland and Wales. The primary objectives
of the Society are to lead, regulate, develop and represent the profession of
pharmacy.

The RPSGB leads and supports the development of the profession within the
context of the public benefit. This includes the advancement of science,
practice, education and knowledge in pharmacy. In addition, it promotes the
profession's policies and views to a range of external stakeholders in a
number of different forums.

Following the publication in 2007 of the Government White Paper Trust,
Assurance and Safety - The Regulation of Health Professionals in the 21st
Century, the Society is working towards the demerger of its regulatory and
professional roles. This will see the establishment of a new General
Pharmaceutical Council and a new professional body for pharmacy in 2010.

For media enquiries please contact the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain's Public Relations Unit, +44(0)20-7572-2476