Serious shortage of diabetic drugs. The reason is that they are widely used not for their intended purpose, but for weight loss. Injections that lead to sudden weight loss have been a hit in recent months in our country and around the world. However, this led to a serious shortage of life-sustaining medications for people suffering from diabetes in Bulgaria.
Iskra.bg was approached by worried patients who asked:
“Are we doomed to be left without the necessary treatment or is there an alternative – substitutes for the medicines that are important to us?”
Our sources indicated that the largest 1mg cut of the type 2 diabetes drug may be gone at this stage, but the others are available. According to them, the problem is mostly for the patients of the health insurance fund, because there the drugs are dispensed with a protocol, since a strictly defined dosage is recorded in it, and there is no way to take, for example, the lower dose. The maximum dose disappears, but 0.25 and 0.50 mg of the preparation are available in the pharmacy network.
“The problem is that the patient, who is prescribed one milligram, cannot get two doses with smaller milligrams according to the The National Health Insurance Fund. It can be purchased in pharmacies, which will however cost about BGN 150-160. The medicine is available in the pharmacy network with lower dosages, but it cannot be filled by the health fund if it is not the full dose”, explained specialists in the field.
We talk about the subject with the monocrinologist Dr. Dilyana Stoyanova from the „Dr. Staykov“ Medical Center – Burgas. She told Iskra.bg:
“There is a shortage, to put it bluntly, because there is an import of the medicine. Another issue is that once it arrives in the country there is a very large re-export due to various considerations. But still medicines remain so that patients can be treated. The company, which is a manufacturer, is expanding its production due to increased market demand. Lack of new patients are „Dulaglutide“, but for „Semaglutide“ there is an import every 10 days. Diabetics can buy freely, but in most cases they use it with a written protocol. It is a very expensive drug, and a small proportion of patients who use it to treat diabetes can buy it freely.”
Dr. Stoyanova noted that the main reason for the lack of drugs for type 2 diabetes is that “they are increasingly prescribed for weight loss”.
“This medicine can easily be written on a white prescription by any doctor with or without a specialty, because this medicine is affordable. People who use it should also familiarize themselves with the contraindications. Those looking for it to lose weight buy it freely from pharmacies, which leads to its lack and harms the patients who need it”, emphasized the doctor.
Pharmacists also do not hide the lack of the drug. To Iskra.bg, master pharmacist Krasimira Stoyanova, head of the pharmacy, said:
“There is no long-term lack of the preparation in the pharmacy network. There are periods when companies repackage drugs and it is temporarily gone, then its absence from the market is felt for a while. There is no danger of patients running out of insulin therapy. It is possible that in places, in individual pharmacies, there will be difficulties due to irregular deliveries.”
“Most of the medicines have substitutes. If the drug is prescribed under the National Health Service, the patient must return to the treating physician to change the prescription. With an e-prescription, it can also be changed over the phone. If we have the same drug ingredient, it can be prescribed to another company. If a drug is missing, we request an order from the warehouse or return the patient to the doctor. Sometimes, however, if there is no demand, warehouses do not maintain stock”, the pharmacist explained.
Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas that helps the absorption of glucose (sugar) from the blood. A person’s body uses glucose to produce energy or to store it as a reserve. In diabetes, the pancreas does not produce enough insulin or the body cannot fully use the insulin produced. This leads to an increased level of glucose in the blood. Metformin helps lower blood glucose to a normal level, which is used to treat type 2 diabetes when diet and exercise are not enough to control blood glucose. In particular, it is used in overweight patients.
Endocrinologist Dr. Dilyana Stoyanova appeals that these diabetes medications be used only for treatment and not for weight loss.
