A pharmacy in Toulouse manufactures amoxicillin and supplies 200 pharmacies to counter the shortage
If your child has recently had bronchiolitis, for example, you may have gone to a pharmacy to get amoxicillin: an antibiotic that has been in short supply for many weeks. It’s not the raw material that’s missing, it’s the preparers! The industry did not anticipate thesurge in demand with the epidemics of influenza, Covid-19 and bronchiolitis.
The National Medicines Safety Agency (Ansm) has therefore authorized around forty pharmacies in France to manufacture them. In the Toulouse region, only one is approved : the Millefeuille pharmacy, a stone’s throw from the Capitol.
Between Christmas and New Year’s Day, above the pharmacy, a real mini factory it’s set up. Pharmacists, preparers, order taking and shipping: five people are dedicated to the manufacture of amoxicillin.
“We honor the preparations for about 200 pharmacies in the sectorexplains Marie Pointud-Girard, one of the pharmacy managers. We work overtime but we are motivated. We have found that it is the pediatric specialties that are the most strained, that take the longest to return to the market, this shortage is very problematic.”
Pharmacists to the rescue
This is a first for community pharmacists, a new mission which would not have been perceived before the health crisis that we knew for Marie Pointud-Girard. “This Covid-19 epidemic has led to flexibility in the exchanges that can be had with the authorities. You remember the shortage of hydroalcoholic solution, we were authorized to manufacture it. I think that opened a gap.”
“We show that we have the know-how, she continues. It’s craftsmanship, we cannot produce the quantities that industry produces on a daily basis, nevertheless we can bring our know-how to patients, and we are proud of it..”
The Millefeuille pharmacy produces 6,000 capsules per week. The situation should be back to normal by two monthsaccording to the Minister of Health François Braun.