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Generic drug shortages are costing independent community pharmacies in England £10m a year, according to research from Sigma Pharmaceuticals, unveiled at the Avicenna Conference.

Rajiv Shah, a director at Sigma, explained how the company’s research had calculated that independent pharmacies were losing £150 a month due to problems caused by supply issues, including increased workload, pricing and dispensing at a loss. Multiplying the figure by 12 months for each of the 5,700 independent pharmacies in England resulted in the figure of £10m.

Mr Shah blamed generic drug shortages on a combination of factors, including parallel export of medicines out of the UK, market imbalances and increasing competition driving down generic pricing. “When you have a shortage, you can’t quantify the cost when the prescription walks out of the door and into the competition,” he said.