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April saw the number of medicine price concessions reach their highest ever level for the second month running, Community Pharmacy England has said as it warned the US-Iran war could worsen this instability in the months to come.

Commenting yesterday (April 30), CPE said a total of 204 concessions were granted by month’s end, up from 201 in March.

CPE said it had received “thousands of reports” from pharmacies about high drugs costs, and that it used this as evidence to present to the Department of Health and Social Care to secure concessions.

“This is a concerning trend, reflecting fragility and instability in the medicines supply chain which is being intensified by the ongoing situation in the Middle East,” said the negotiator.

CPE research director James Davies commented: “We have had a record number of price concessions recently, and while these indicate pricing issues rather than necessarily meaning there are medicines shortages, they show that the medicines supply chain is under increasing pressure, which is only likely to get worse in light of the conflict in the Middle East.

“This pressure is playing out in community pharmacies where teams are spending hours every day trying to get the medicines their patients need.

“It is also having a financial impact and the underfunding of community pharmacies continues to lead to pharmacy closures, with an average of one pharmacy closing each week in England.”