- State of emergency: all pharmacies suffer from supply shortages

- The majority of supply problems involve supply-related drugs

- Four out of five pharmacists say customer relationships have suffered.

Hamburg, November 02, 2022. All pharmacies in Germany are suffering from supply bottlenecks. 93 percent state that they have to deal with supply problems on a daily basis. Five percent are affected several times a week, the rest less frequently. 

"To speak of an 'emergency' is no exaggeration," says Bettina Mertens-Danowski, who is responsible for the new ApoVote study by Bonsai Health: "More than two-thirds of the supply bottlenecks in pharmacies concern prescription drugs - i.e., drugs that are relevant to supply, which sometimes means vital drugs."  

There is no substitute for a quarter of OTC drugs

In the case of over-the-counter medications, pharmacists are able to offer an alternative medication in 72 percent of cases. However, they are unable to help more than a quarter of patients (28 percent) with these OTC products (for "over the counter"). 

A 54-year-old pharmacist interviewed by Bonsai Health sums it up: "The supply shortages are dramatic! Not only is it significantly more time consuming to literally 'organize' merchandise instead of just ordering it. It's also quite terrifying to do Sunday emergency service and know you can't supply the smallest patients." For pediatric pain medications in particular, large gaps in supply had emerged for the first time at the time of the survey (August 2022).  

"There are no signs of an improvement in the supply situation," Bettina Mertens-Danowski states: "This is not only shown by our surveys, people can already see this today at the door of one or the other pharmacy - when a notice draws attention to which products have run out."

Side effect: The customer relationship with the pharmacy deteriorates

On the side effects of supply shortages, ask your pharmacist: in the study, four out of five pharmacists said that the relationship with their customers had already been damaged by supply problems, mostly in the long term.

About the ApoVote study from Bonsai Health

Bonsai Health is the pharmaceutical and healthcare division of the market research institute Bonsai Research. For the ApoVote study, 256 pharmacists in owner or management positions were surveyed in August 2022. The study is representative of pharmacies in Germany.

Contact:
Bettina Mertens-Danowski
Head of Bonsai Health
bettina.mertens-danowski@bonsai-health.com

+49 40 607768126