Medicine shortage could affect diabetes treatments

After a recent powerful warning about an increasing medicine shortage in the UK, there are concerns about the impact of a lack of important medical supplies on diabetes patients.
An All-Party Pharmacy Group (APPG) of MPs has called on the coalition government to take action about medical supplies being exported out of the country and being sold at higher prices abroad by medicine middlemen looking for a cheap source of supplies. This export, bolstered by the weakness of the British pound, is permitted by European Union rules but is thought to be having a negative effect on the distribution of prescription drugs.
The MPs group also claimed that the healthcare regulator needs to act to resolve supply problems and try to slow the growth in drug wholesaler licences. When pharma companies tried to help by bringing drug quotas, this only made things worse.
Kevin Barro, chairman of the APPG, has urged the government to look into the problem, claiming there was sufficient flexibility in the EU legislation to allow them to exempt some things from free movement if it was felt there was a danger to public health. He argued “The problem of medicines shortages is an extremely serious one, and our report shows clearly that patients are suffering harm as a result of not being able to get crucial medicines.”