Swiss chemists are running low on some medication
Keystone / Expa/ Stefanie Oberhauser
The Swiss pharmaceutical industry should be less dependent on active ingredients from Asia, says the president of the Swiss pharmacists association, pharmaSuisse. Martine Ruggli has called for new drug companies to be built in Europe.
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La industria farmacéutica suiza quiere reducir su dependencia de Asia
If a drug runs out in Switzerland, it’s not available in the whole of Europe “in an extreme situation like the present one”, she said. With Europe, Switzerland must now prepare for the future, Ruggli said in an interviewExternal link with newspaper Blick on Monday.
She pointed out that the only European company for antibiotics, for example, is in Austria. Building up new locations would take time, she said, but was possible. “Sources need to be diversified.”
Enea Martinelli, a hospital pharmacist and pharmaSuisse board member, said in November that the biggest problem was children’s medications, especially fever-reducing syrup, as well as blood pressure medications, psychiatric medications and Parkinson’s medications. Painkillers are also a problem.
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