Pharmacies can see availability in real time

From this Monday, pharmacies will be able to have immediate access to information on the availability of medicines, allowing them to know whether the available quantity of a given drug is limited, out of stock or even out of stock at the distributor.

In a statement, the National Authority for Medicines and Health Products explains that this functionality is the result of collaboration between Infarmed, the Association of Pharmaceutical Distributors (ADIFA) and the National Association of Pharmacies (ANF) and that the information is now integrated directly into the software used by distributors and pharmacies.

Until now, pharmacies were unable to immediately monitor the status of orders on distributors' portals, according to the different possible classifications: “available”, available “in limited quantity”, “out of stock until…” and “out of stock at the distributor”.

With this new functionality, pharmacies now have access, in real time, to the marketing status of medicines, including out-of-stock situations and replenishment forecasts.

“These measures are crucial on the path to greater transparency, harmonization and provision of accurate information to patients”, explains Infarmed , adding that this new functionality contributes to “more efficient management, greater standardization of information throughout the distribution circuit and more accurate communication with patients”.