United States – The United States is experiencing increasing drug shortages that are involved in medical care than before, as the pharmacy database shows.
Introduction
In 2001, the ASHSP and the University of Utah Drug Information Service started keeping records about drug shortages.
This new information shows that never before have things been this dire, at least in the whole time they have kept records, as reported by HealthDay.
Record Shortages in 2024
According to medical groups, the first quarter of 2024 set a new record: only 323 different medicines were available. This level is even larger than the last one, which experienced 320 drug shortages in 2014, as the data suggests.
There is no need for it to be this way, stated the Director of ASHSP, Paul Abramowitz.
“All drug classes are vulnerable to shortages. Some of the most worrying shortages involve generic sterile injectable medications, including cancer chemotherapy drugs and emergency medications stored in hospital crash carts and procedural areas. Ongoing national shortages of therapies for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder also remain a serious challenge for clinicians and patients.”
The data comprises information gathered from practitioners, patients, and others, the accuracy of which is corroborated by drug companies.
Other classes of medications with notable shortages, such as CNS stimulants, antimicrobials, hormonal agents, and intravenous fluids, were some of the data published recently.
Data Analysis
According to the statistics of the US government, the duration of an average drug shortage is usually 1.5 years.
However, the data analysis by IQVIA’s consulting firm revealed that, unsurprisingly, the majority of the current list has a shortage of more than two years.
Drug supplies can be disrupted for multiple reasons, including for the supply chain, or as it is happening with the weight-loss drugs lately because of the increased demand of consumers.
Policy Recommendations
The US Department of Health and Human Services realized the problem and issued new policy recommendations to the press regarding how one could prevent drug shortage, CNN reported last week.
Other regulatory bodies that came up with some of these ways are the association of hospitals and drugmakers, which created a clear marketplace and increased funding to make supply chains flexible and robust, as reported by HealthDay.
She, however, feels that many hospitals lack the financial and staff resources to implement these recommendations.