Project against waste of expensive medicines will be followed up nationwide Redistributing expensive medicines can save millions of euros

A research project against medicine waste at Radboud university medical center is being expanded to ten additional hospitals, including all UMCs. The project started in 2020 in four hospitals, led by Radboudumc. It showed that redistributing medicines can save millions of euros per year. Now the project is getting a nationwide follow-up.

The Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport has announced that a major research project to combat medicine waste is being expanded considerably. In addition to the four hospitals that already participated in this ROAD study, ten additional hospitals will now participate, including all UMCs. They will collect and redistribute expensive leftover cancer medicines.

The expansion of the project is valid for a period of one and a half years  and will largely be paid for from the Transformation Agreement of the NFU / ZN. In addition to the hospitals, the Dutch Association of Hospital Pharmacists (NVZA) is also closely involved.

Goat track

The original project in four hospitals ran from 2021 to early 2023 under the leadership of sustainable pharmacy researcher Charlotte Bekker of Radboudumc, in collaboration with the Sint Maartenskliniek and Utrecht University. It showed that redistributing expensive medicines is feasible and safe, and that it could save the Netherlands millions of euros annually. In addition, it is also more sustainable to reissue unused medication.

Redistribution of medicines is only allowed in the context of a scientific study. Outside of a study context, the European rules are a major stumbling block. The European law called Falsified Medicines Directive, which aims to combat the falsification of medication, prohibits the redistributing of medicines. Any adjustment to this law will take years. Expansion of the research project therefore represents a goat track with which the Netherlands, despite European rules, can still combat medicine waste and provide more evidence for lobbying at the EU level.

Energetic

The Netherlands plays an important role in Europe when it comes to the fight against medicine waste. Bekker: ‘The expansion of our project is a great milestone. It is fantastic that as many as ten additional hospitals will participate. Hopefully we can expand even further at a later stage. The Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport is very energetic and positive, and is also opening up the debate on medicine waste at a European level.'

Minister Ernst Kuipers (Public Health, Welfare and Sport): 'Waste of medicines is also for me a thorn in the eye. Sometimes things are not possible from a legal point of view, but I am very interested in what is possible. Of course, this should not be at the expense of patient safety, because that remains my top priority. This research is important and necessary to gain insight into the feasibility, safety and effects of redistributing oral oncolytics. This will help us to start the conversation about restrictive legislation for redistribution in Europe.'

Hospital pharmacist and chairman of the NVZA, Claartje Samson: 'Ultimately, we want to enable redistribution of oncolytics in all hospitals. This is necessary, because the affordability and availability of medicines are under great pressure. Also, wasting expensive drugs is incompatible with hospital pharmacists' efforts to use drugs sustainably.'

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