August 2020 - Newsletter #3
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Wall Street Journal Reports on Drug Shortages
We've previously explained the reasons for worldwide drug shortages during the pandemic. One key reason is the reduced production of raw materials in China and their completion into finished dosages in India, which much of the world (including the United States) relies on for the supply of pharmaceuticals.
Covid-19-related shocks to integrated pharmaceutical production systems have led to serious concerns being expressed by drug manufacturers, the American Medical Association, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and pharmacists in the United Kingdom and Canada about the disruption in the supply of pharmaceuticals since the coronavirus crisis began. In this regard, we recently featured a Canadian pharmacist on the television news confirming prescription drug shortages, 'across the board'.
"… supply-chain disruptions and a surge in buying brought on by the pandemic, has raised concerns among Trump administration officials, lawmakers and corporate chiefs."
"Pandemic Lays Bare U.S. Reliance on China for Drugs" is the title of a Wall Street Journal article published last week which discusses concerns about the drug shortages and the reasons for them.
We are focused exclusively on the timely and affordable supply of your medicines and not on the politics of where raw materials should be procured from so we have simply extracted some relevant quotes from the article that confirm what NorthWestPharmacy.com newsletters have been advising customers about with respect to production and supply issues:
- The dependence, exposed by the supply-chain disruptions and a surge in buying brought on by the pandemic, has raised concerns among Trump administration officials, lawmakers and corporate chiefs.
- India, the world's largest producer of generic medicines, depends on China for 80% of its active pharmaceutical ingredients, or API, the chemicals that give drugs their medicinal properties, according to industry data and Indian companies.
- Overall, China makes nearly half of the planet's API, according to Britain's Medicine and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency and pharmaceutical analysts.
- Chinese pharmaceutical executives told Chinese state media in late March that logistics disruptions would likely cause overall global API supply to fall by 20%.
- Chinese drugmakers, including Zhejiang Huahai Pharmaceutical Co., the world's leading producer of antihypertensive drugs, said that the pandemic hampered their ability to ship products.
Delivery Slows and Prices Go Up
The last excerpted quote evidences how the pandemic has impacted worldwide logistics systems and the ability to transport raw materials needed for drug production - a fact we have regularly advised our customers about. Logistics systems also include postal agencies worldwide and just last week we expressed concern that there could be further slowdowns at USPS coming.
Not mentioned in the Wall Street Journal article, however, is that the pandemic has resulted in increases to the costs of producing pharmaceuticals which consumers should be prepared may increase the prices of prescription drugs.
It's for all these reasons that our last newsletter suggests it is prudent to get ahead of price increases, drug shortages and postal slowdowns.
Take Advantage of Our Potentially Time-Limited Reduced Shipping Fee
It may seem counterintuitive with the slower delivery service from postal agencies during the pandemic, but we are incurring significantly higher shipping rates when shipping customer parcels. Yet we've reduced our shipping fee to help minimize the impact on our customers and make it easier to order their medications now. But we do not know what further Covid-19 surcharges or other rate increases we will face in the coming weeks so we may only be able to maintain the lower shipping fee of today for a limited time.
As a customer of NorthWestPharmacy.com, you have a distinct advantage during times of drug shortages as a result of our exceptional ability to procure difficult to source products and the good news is that NorthWestPharmacy.com has been successfully taking, processing and delivering affordable prescription drugs throughout the entire coronavirus crisis and continues to do so.
So please take advantage of the potentially time-limited reduced shipping fee and don't wait for product price increases, more pharmaceutical shortages or delivery systems to experience further delays as the coronavirus is spreading again. We encourage customers who may need medications in the coming months to place their orders now.
With more than 375,000 customer reviews, NorthWestPharmacy.com is the most reviewed and independently five-star rated online pharmacy in the world providing lower cost medications from abroad to customers worldwide. Nobody offering safe and affordable pharmaceuticals from abroad can match our supply and delivery capacity during this difficult time so please be assured we are successfully leveraging all our capacity and ensuring orders reach customers as fast as possible in the circumstances.
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