Pharma industry warns of growing medicine shortages in SA

The industry said manufacturers are being squeezed between rising production costs and prices that don’t keep pace with inflation.

Pharmisa chairperson Stavros Nicolaou said there is even a link between oil prices and pharmaceutical cost.

“If medicines are no longer viable, because if you lose volumes in a factory, what happens? Your unit costs go up because you don’t get the factory recoveries, don’t get the volume throughput and that will eventually put a strain on economic viability of the products and when they’re no longer economically viable, producers will simply not supply those products. 

“Now, we are facing right now, as you and I speak today, probably the longest list of meds and shortages that I have seen in my four decades in the industry and part of the reason for that is that the National Health Department has given the industry a 1.4% increase. 

“Now, we know where inflation is sitting in the central bargaining chambers, the wage settlements were at 6% and we know what the oil crisis has done to cost. In fact, a study by UNITAID the other day cited that with every 10% in oil increase, your pharmaceutical costs go up 3%,” Nicolaou said.