Root Causes

According to the FDA, drug shortages exist because of a “broken marketplace” that does not respond to the usual forces of supply and demand.

Therefore, when shortages exist, they persist resulting in patients, doctors, and pharmacists looking for drugs that come late, or not at all.

The FDA’s report, Drug Shortages: Root Causes and Potential Solutions, concludes that enduring solutions “require multi-stakeholder efforts and rethinking of business practices.”

ACCESS TO DRUGS

The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists defines a drug shortage as “a supply issue that affects how the pharmacy prepares or dispenses a drug product or influences patient care when prescribers must use an alternative agent.”

The ASHSP serves the medical community to share information about shortages. As of July 2019, 80 new drugs have been added to the drug shortage list.

DRUG SHORTAGE IMPACTS

Across America, the impact of the drug shortage crisis is largely unquantified; however, recent reports indicate increased out of pocket costs, rates of drug errors, adverse events, mortality, and complaints during times of shortage.

Patients have reported increased burdens such as travel, expenses, emotional distress and concerns about replacement drug effects.

8 OUT OF 10 DRUGS

Used in treating the most common childhood cancers have been temporarily unavailable in the past ten years.

The list of physician specialities that are affected by drug shortages include oncology, pediatrics, psychiatry, neurology, cardiology, gastroenterology, anesthesiology and more.

Despite the broad impact, centralized regulation of supply has not been developed.