Pharmac is facing mounting pressure from frontline pharmacists who say New Zealanders are being left in the dark as the Iran war disrupts global medicine supply chains. The first confirmed casualty: isosorbide mononitrate \u2014 a lifeline drug for angina patients \u2014 now officially delayed, with pharmacies warning they have no clear guidance to reassure increasingly anxious patients. Industry leaders say the silence from Wellington is \u201cunacceptable\u201d as the Strait of Hormuz shutdown begins to bite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Isosorbide mononitrate \u2014 a widely used angina medication \u2014 is the first drug Pharmac has formally listed as facing shipping delays because of the conflict. Independent Community Pharmacy Group spokesperson Clive Cannons<\/strong> said the shortage was \u201cvery serious\u201d given how many New Zealanders rely on the drug daily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIsosorbide opens up the arteries so more oxygen gets to the heart muscle. If you have angina, that\u2019s an essential medicine for stopping attacks,\u201d Cannons said. He added that pharmacists wrote to Health New Zealand when the Strait of Hormuz closed but \u201creceived no response\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cannons said pharmacies had been left without clear guidance. \u201cThere hasn\u2019t been any communication coming directly to pharmacy. What I would\u2019ve hoped to see from Pharmac is a plan with different scenarios \u2014 like the government\u2019s fuel plan \u2014 so we can reassure patients, because they are beginning to ask.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pharmac\u2019s acting director of pharmaceuticals Claire Pouwels<\/strong> said the Ministry of Health was leading the health sector\u2019s response as part of the all\u2011of\u2011government approach. She said Pharmac was working closely with Health NZ, suppliers and distributors \u201cto identify emerging risks early and ensure consistency of supply\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pouwels said Pharmac routinely manages around 100 medicine and device supply issues each month. When a shortage emerges, the agency creates a management plan assessing duration, alternative funded medicines, available stock, and whether sourcing from another supplier is possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She said the most up\u2011to\u2011date information on conflict\u2011related disruptions is available on Pharmac\u2019s website, where supply notices are updated and filtered by issues linked to the Middle East conflict. Relevant clinicians, suppliers, prescribers and advocacy groups are also notified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pharmac remains \u201creceptive to feedback\u201d on the information it provides, Pouwels said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Pharmac is facing mounting pressure from frontline pharmacists who say New Zealanders are being left in the dark as the Iran war disrupts global medicine supply chains. The first confirmed casualty: isosorbide mononitrate \u2014 a lifeline drug for angina patients \u2014 now officially delayed, with pharmacies warning they have no clear guidance to reassure increasingly<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10718,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[913,966,178,113,823],"coauthors":[709],"class_list":{"0":"post-11991","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-fuel-crisis","9":"tag-healthcare","10":"tag-iran","11":"tag-new-zealand","12":"tag-pharmac"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11991"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11991\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11992,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11991\/revisions\/11992"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11991"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=11991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}