An Investigation of Aspects Affecting Availability and Grading of High-risk Antibiotics in Sweden : Group 1

This thesis examined 39 antibiotics that, according to Folkhälsomyndigheten, were most likely to be affected by availability problems on the Swedish market. The aim was to investigate possible factors affecting the availability of the antibiotics, to grade the antibiotics based on these factors and, if possible, identify some pattern or general trend. A grading system for assessing the risk of availability problems for each antibiotic was created based on a number of factors, such as number of market authorization holders, number of active pharmaceuticalingredient manufacturers and risk of natural disasters in the countries where the antibiotic is produced. Each antibiotic got a final value based on all the factors, which was then compiled in a final table. The results were evaluated and discussed, both in general and for the specific antibiotics. In the discussion, relevant information that was not included in the grading system,such as isolated incidents at manufacturing sites, was taken into account. The information was successfully gathered and used to grade the antibiotics, but no pattern or general trends were identified