New action by the Department of Health to address medicine supply shortages has been welcomed, but the government still needs to do more to improve trading processes.
The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) believes that the new guidance to tackle medical supply shortages is a step in the right direction.
However, concerns remain about the activities of a minority of companies with whom manufacturers are trading along the supply chain.
ABPI director-general Richard Barker has called for stronger action from ministers to tackle the "root causes" of the problems encountered throughout NHS medicine procurement over the last 18 months.
He explained: "The ABPI has consistently called for the number of wholesaler dealers licences in the UK to be reduced to enable better regulation by the MHRA [Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency] and wants to see stricter obligations on all in the supply chain to ensure UK patients are always the priority."
Both the MHRA and ABPI agree that medicines should not be considered ordinary items of commerce, so wholesale dealers should be subject to tighter regulations and licensing to curb abuse.
Typical Guttridge equipment used in the pharmaceutical industry includes; Conveyors – screw conveyors – chain conveyors – belt conveyors
