Despite the emergency introduction, through the Institute of Pharmaceutical Research and Technology (IFET), of a drug for diabetics with the active substance semaglutidethe needs of patients who really need it cannot be met.

As Dionysis Eugenidis, president of the Pharmaceutical Association of Thessaloniki, reported to APE-MPE, although there is a large increase in demand for a specific, relatively new, drug with the active substance semaglutide, the demand of which presents a large increasethe needs of the patients are not met as the quantities of both this medicine and something similar with the same active substance are not sufficient.

The result is that those who can pay the high cost of participation, come to the pharmacies with the doctor’s prescription, but leave idle, since there is no medicine even for a sample.

“The problem that has been created is serious. The quantities of the specific drug of 1mg procured by the state, through IFET, have been exhausted. It is indicative that the Pharmacists’ Cooperative of Thessaloniki requested 400 pieces Ozempic 1mg and received only 72. The information we had from the pharmacies was that there would be a gradual supply of the Greek market to meet the needs of the patients. However, we have recently been informed that this is not the case, since beyond the initial receipt, no other quantities are expected“, Mr. Evgenidis explained.

According to him, the FSTH sent a letter to IFET a few days ago asking for clarifications regarding the supply of pharmacies with the 1 mg preparation in question.

For his part, the secretary of the FSTH Giorgos Kioses emphasizes that “as the situation has developed at the moment, both patients and pharmacists are exposed, as they come to the pharmacies with the prescriptions already issued by the doctors and they are unable to serve them. For this reason, we request official information from IFET on whether and when a new supply of the drug in question is planned for the pharmacies in order to normalize the situation”.