Pharmacists are raising serious concerns about transparency and preparedness from Pharmac as medicine supply chains come under pressure from disruptions linked to the Iran war.
The agency has already identified isosorbide mononitrate, an angina medication, as the first drug to experience shipping delays as a result of the conflict, an early signal of how vulnerable essential medicine supplies may be.
Clive Cannons from the Independent Community Pharmacy Group said the situation is extremely serious given how widely relied upon the medication is.
“Isosorbide is mainly used for angina. It opens up the arteries so that more blood flows through and more oxygen gets to the heart muscle. So, if you have angina, that’s an essential medicine for stopping the angina attacks,” he said.
Cannons said pharmacists had already reached out to Health New Zealand about potential medicine supply risks when the Strait of Hormuz closed, but they hadn’t received any response.
“There hasn’t been any communication, that I’ve seen, coming directly to pharmacy. What I would’ve hoped to have seen from Pharmac is a plan with different scenarios, like the fuel plan the government’s got, so we can assure our patients when they come in, because they are beginning to ask about it.”
“That would be very helpful to us to allay some of the concern that’s out there in the community right now.”
From the agency’s side, Pharmac acting director of pharmaceuticals Claire Pouwels said the Ministry of Health was leading the health sector’s response to the Middle East conflict as part of an all-of-government approach under the Ministry of Health framework.
The agency said it already manages a high volume of supply disruptions, dealing with around 100 supply issues related to medical devices and medicines each month.
“If we become aware of a supply issue, we create a management plan. We assess the risk of each supply issue on a case-by-case basis. This looks at how long the supply issue could last, if another funded medicine can be used, how much stock of the alternative medicine there is, if we need to get the medicine from a different supplier and how clinicians use the medicine in practice.”
“When we think there may be an impact on patients, we communicate this through our website. Our medicine supply notices page is up-to-date with information about supply issues that may affect people. There is a filter for those issues that are affected by the conflict,” she said.
Pouwels said that relevant clinicians, suppliers, prescribers, and, where appropriate, health advocacy groups are being kept informed. She added that Pharmac welcomes feedback on the medicine supply notices it sends out.