855 shortage notices, and a list that lets the pharmacist decide

Winter coughs are coming, and the register of medicines that are hard to get is not short. A summary of the federal drug agency’s shortage database, compiled by the pharmacy news site Apotheke Aktuell from BfArM’s export with data as of 30 October, counts 855 active notices¹. Of those, 259 are classed as relevant to supply, 195 as critical to supply, and 246 as relevant to hospitals¹. A notice is per product and strength, so one active ingredient can appear many times.

The children’s shelf. Several of the critical entries are what a paediatrician reaches for in November. Amoxicillin AL dry suspension has been listed since May 2024, citing higher demand, with an expected end of 1 December 2026¹. Cefaclor and cefuroxime suspensions from several makers are marked critical; so is a penicillin V granulate from 1 A Pharma, until 30 November¹. A salbutamol inhaler, Bronchospray Autohaler, is critical until February 2027¹. For adults, the list carries the everyday: pantoprazole, atorvastatin and escitalopram from some makers¹.

The machinery. None of that means the pharmacy will send you home empty-handed. BfArM keeps a separate urgency list of essential children’s medicines that may be in tight supply, last updated with data as of 15 October². For a drug on that list, a pharmacy that cannot supply the prescribed product may swap it for one with the same active ingredient made up in the pharmacy, or for a ready-made product in a different form, without first calling the doctor². The list is refreshed roughly every 14 days². BfArM’s own news page shows the rest of the routine: an updated overview of imported injectable aspirin on 27 October, and on 23 October the current children’s medicine list under the shortage law, the ALBVVG³.

For you. If a child’s antibiotic is not on the shelf, ask the pharmacist about a substitute in another form before you go back to the surgery; the rules now allow it for listed medicines². And if you take a regular tablet, order the next pack a week earlier than usual this winter. It costs nothing, and it gives the supply chain the one thing it lacks: time.