Why it matters: Some of these drugs are not widely produced.
The U.S. Pharmacopeia, a non-profit organization that examines the pharmaceutical supply chain, look carefully Possible tornado damage. The non-profit assigns drugs a “vulnerability score” considering factors related to shortages, such as low prices, quality issues at manufacturing sites, and the number of companies producing the drugs.
Painkiller drips had high vulnerability scores, as did IV electrolytes such as potassium chloride and magnesium sulfate, which Pfizer lists as being factory-made and potentially affected by tornadoes. These drugs help patients with severe dehydration and complications of diabetes, among others.
One unexpected benefit to some growing shortages of medicines is that federal regulations allow specialty pharmacies to manufacture medicines on an emergency basis. Vimala Raghabendran, a shortage expert at the US Pharmacopoeia, said the policy “will be useful in times like this when there is an unexpected shock to the system.”
Last Event: Anticancer drug shortages threatened patient care.
This disaster occurred just as the previous medicine shortage crisis began to ease. For several weeks this spring and summer, doctors ran out of two cheap generic chemotherapy drugs that are best suited for treating testicular, ovarian and other cancer patients.
Doctors predicted a higher mortality rate as patients came for treatment but found they could not receive the most powerful drugs in the combination used for treatment. The Food and Drug Administration has since started permitting shipments from China of drugs not expressly approved for the U.S. market.
Now “it looks better,” Dr. Lucio Gordan, president of Florida Oncologists, said in an email Tuesday, adding that the center has a month’s supply of a drug called cisplatin and carboplatin.
What We Don’t Know: Will Congress and the White House Act?
Drug shortages are nothing new. However, the cancer drug crisis has started a broader debate about its root causes and solutions. There are also some suggestions from Medicare. announced plans Encourage hospitals to stockpile essential medicines. The Senate’s main health committee pushed the pandemic funding bill to provide more data to the FDA to avoid funding shortfalls.
A leader in the generic drug industry and other professionals It cites pressure from brokerage firms that give the lowest bidder access to millions of customers. A price “race to the bottom” is destabilizing the industry and rewarding those who cut corners or operate abroad in India, the country with the lowest labor costs, they say. House Republicans are I’m researching There are some such moves, but no proposals.
