Supply bottlenecks for medicines
Your medicine is not available? We can help!
“Unfortunately not available at the moment” – it is becoming increasingly common for pharmaceutical manufacturers to be unable to supply medicines. Whether it’s antipyretics, antibiotics or antihypertensives: supply problems with medicines lead to great uncertainty among patients.
With us, there is a good chance that you will still receive the medication you need. Why is that?
We have more medicines than many other pharmacies.
Thanks to our large warehouse, we have more medicines in stock than many other pharmacies. We also maintain excellent supplier relationships with several wholesalers. As a result, we can offer a large selection and a large quantity of medicines.
Contact us on +49 89 550 50 70, write to us at info@ludwigsapo.de or send us a photo of your prescription by e-mail.
We clarify alternatives individually.
If your prescribed medication is not available, we will clarify possible alternatives directly with your doctor. Thanks to our large team and our many years of experience, we are often able to find a preparation with the same active ingredient for you.
You can also check online in our shop at any time whether your medicine is available.
You can reserve or order green (available) items directly for collection. We can reorder items that are currently out of stock (orange) at short notice.
We import medicines with the same active ingredient from abroad.
If you do not need your medicine immediately, we can often import an alternative medicine with the same active ingredient from abroad. We utilise our excellent trading relationships for this so-called individual import.
A prescription is only required for prescription-only medicines.
Supply bottlenecks for medicines:
causes and current situation
A supply shortage occurs when a medicine is not available for at least two weeks. Supply shortages are reported by pharmaceutical companies to the Federal Office for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM) and listed publicly.
The number of reports of supply bottlenecks for medicinal products has risen sharply in recent years. The trend is still rising. There are many specific reasons why a medicine is not available.
One common reason for supply bottlenecks is production problems. Globalisation is considered to be an important cause of the difficult supply situation, as the majority of production sites for active ingredients destined for Europe are located in cheaper foreign countries.
How can your pharmacy help?
It is important for patients and relatives to know: A supply shortage of medicines does not always necessarily mean a supply shortage. Alternatives are often available, because in many cases pharmacists can offer a generic drug or an alternative drug with the same active ingredient from abroad, for example.