by Belen Diego

MADRID, Mar 13 (APM) - Pharmaceutical firms included in the Spanish region of Andalusia’s latest three drug tenders have failed to provide 40%, sometimes all of the medicines included in their exclusive two-year contracts, representatives of pharmacists' association CEOFA have told APM.

Companies included in the tenders sign two-year generic exclusivity contracts with the region covering a number of pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), which will automatically be given to patients when they receive an API-defined prescription.

Speaking on the sidelines of conference in Seville on Thursday José Luis Márquez, CEOFA’s president, said: “Our data, gathered from the biggest distributor in Andalusia, prove this is not some occasional shortage of supplies, we now have data for the whole region concerning the first drug tenders, from the one that was enforced back in 2012 to the penultimate one, whose effects up to the first months of 2015 are quite alarming. In fact, shortages of supplies have been registered from day one up to February 2015."

Whereas the first generics drug tender in Andalusia was on for only a few days, the three following ones, enforced for around two years then extended, have failed to fulfil the region’s expectations concerning savings and have posed a serious risk concerning drug access, Márquez said.

Marquez said all of the tenders have failed to supply all of the drugs required. In the second tender, there was a 40% shortage of at least 43 drugs. In the third tender there was a 40% shortage in supplies of 18 drugs.

In all, 35% of the drugs included in the tender were below what is considered “adequate supply”, according to Marquez.

“In the third tender, 34 out of 54 drugs were being supplied below 50% of pharmacies’ demands," he said.

According to Márquez, medicines which should have been available in community pharmacies across the region were in fact accessible only because other “responsible” manufacturers rapidly provided them.

“We are talking about molecules like metformin and simvastatin here, medicines for serious chronic conditions”, he said.

Carlos Lens, head of the quality of drugs and health products at the Spanish ministry of health, also a speaker at the conference, said the reason why the ministry challenged the tenders in court is their legal services think it breaks Spanish law by modifying the prices of drugs, something only the ministry is entitled to do.

He added the regional government has not disclosed economical data concerning the tenders as it should, but noted the few saving estimates offered by Andalusia have been corrected, meaning lowered, a number of times.

Lens emphasised patients are the ministry’s main concern, mainly because tenders affect drug access and limit their choices. “There are about 10,000 drugs which patients in other Spanish region can take which are not available in Andalusia”, he said.

Lens also noted that when other manufacturers solve shortage of supplies, different packaging can confuse some patients, specially those with chronic conditions, the elderly and polymedicated people.

Carmen Flores, president of patients association ADP, agreed with Lens and demanded the ministry harder moves to stop the tenders because court challenges take too long and patients' wellbeing is at stake.

In case of shortage of supplies, pharmacists help patients by selling them different ones, always according to their prescription, but then the regional governments refuse to reimburse these.

“According to the law, these medicines should be reimbursed, and if you go to the whole process of demanding it, eventually you get the reimbursement, but it is tedious bureaucracy and it takes months to get each claim approved, Márquez said.

Contacted by APM on Thursday and Friday, the region’s health ministry did not comment.

Juan José Rodríguez Sendín, president of Spanish medical association OMC, defended drug tenders in a press conference in Madrid on Thursday.

According to Rodríguez Sendín, all Spanish regions should follow Andalusia’s example, which would bring in 1.5 billions in savings, he said.

bd/rs