CHESSMEN Multi-stakeholder Workshop confirms that key stakeholders in shortage management agree on strengthening collaboration on all levels.
JAZMP, lead of the Work package 6 in the Joint Action Coordination and Harmonisation of the Existing Systems against Shortages of Medicines – European Network – CHESSMEN, successfully hosted CHESSMEN Multi-stakeholder Workshop, which took place on 27 November 2024. The virtual workshop was organised to present and discuss the current state, key findings, and preliminary conclusions of four technical Work Packages of CHESSMEN JA after almost 2 years of intensive cooperation supporting harmonised response to medicines shortages in EU/EEA. The online event saw 220 participants which included representatives of industry, healthcare professionals, patient and consumer advocates, as well as representatives from national regulatory authorities and other European regulatory bodies.
The objective of the workshop was also to gather feedback from key stakeholders on the WP 6 recommendations on monitoring, reporting, and managing medicine shortages. Representatives of key stakeholders were invited to share their feedback on the mentioned recommendations, as well as good practices in managing shortages observed in different Member States:
- Catarina Matias – European Union of General Practitioners (UEMO)
- Ilaria Passarani – PGEU, the European Organisation of Community Pharmacists
- Nikos Dedes – European Patients’ Forum (EPF)
- Liana Petrosova – Medicines for Europe
Their presentations acknowledged that CHESSMEN recommendations for improving shortage management are aligned with the stakeholders who are on the frontlines in addressing the issue of medicine shortages.
Nikos Dedes (EPF) emphasized the need for collaboration: “Patients may feel worried and confused about the lack of their medication despite the availability of therapeutic alternatives. Therefore, the involvement of patients in coordination of response to shortages is not only welcome but necessary approach.”
The leaders of the technical WPs 5, 7 and 8, dealing with root causes of medicine shortages, the digital information concept for the monitoring and reporting medicines shortages and prevention and mitigation measures presented the main achievements of their respective work packages to date and representatives of European Medicines Agency (EMA) Maria Jesus Alcaraz Tomas and Inga Abed presented the latest guidance on Shortage prevention and mitigation plans and Guidance for regulators, healthcare professionals, and patient organisations on prevention and communication of medicine shortages, in which CHESSMEN actively participated.
Many questions from the audience and a lively discussion that followed the presentations show that active involvement and coordination of all stakeholders is a topic that needs to be addressed also going forward to ensure more effective management of medicine shortages across the EU.
More about JA CHESSMEN: www.ja-chessmen.eu
CHESSMEN on JAZMP website: https://www.jazmp.si/eu-projekti/chessmen/
