Insulin shortage should be normalized in June – 05/15/2023 – Health

The Ministry of Health said this Monday (15) that the lack of fast-acting insulin analogues in the states should be regularized from the beginning of June. The folder admitted that the country faces a scenario of lack of national production capable of meeting its needs.

A Sheet revealed that there could be a lack of insulin for diabetes in the states because the stock of the Ministry of Health would run out in April. In some places the product is already missing.

“The expectation, based on constant dialogue with the state health departments and intense monitoring by the Ministry in partnership with Conass, is that it will be possible to maintain equal supply in the SUS network until the beginning of June from the relocation between the federal entities”, said the folder, in a note.

In the article published in March, the Minister of Health, Nísia Trindade, said that she was working so that there was no shortage of the medicine. “We’re going to do what we can based on the TCU’s notes,” she said at the time.

This type of insulin was incorporated into the SUS in 2017 after approval by Conitec (National Commission for the Incorporation of Technologies in the Unified Health System).

Societies and medical entities and representatives of people with diabetes do not recommend replacing analogue insulin with regular human insulin, which may increase the risk of severe and nocturnal hypoglycemia, for example.

The Ministry of Health also said that it has been monitoring the supply of the product in the SUS and has adopted a series of actions to avoid shortages, such as international emergency purchases, relocation of existing stocks between states and purchase authorization by the state health departments with reimbursement by the folder.

Last Tuesday (9), a contract was signed for the emergency purchase of 1.3 million units of fast-acting insulin analogues to ensure supply to the SUS network. The amount is sufficient for the treatment of more than 67,000 patients across the country.

The forecast is that the first delivery of the company GlobalX will be carried out until July 9th. The Ministry of Health maintains negotiations with the distributor to anticipate part of the quantity.

The insulin purchased —an aspart molecule, produced by the company Gan & Lee– is registered in countries with health regulatory agencies that are part of the ICH (International Council for Harmonization), of which China is a member.

WHO (World Health Organization) and Anvisa (National Health Surveillance Agency) accept and recommend ICH registration for emergency situations.

“It should be noted that the most consumed regular insulins are in adequate stock and the case of the fast-acting analogue insulin is being treated with the highest priority with national and international suppliers to guarantee the population’s service”, concluded the ministry.