According to a report and evidence presented at a Senate homeland security hearing on Wednesday, an increase in drug shortages force hospitals to make “horrible” decisions, posing a national security concern.
The report produced for the hearing claims that medicine shortages increased by about 30% last year compared to 2021, with an average shortfall lasting 18 months and some reaching 15 years. Common antibiotics, anesthetics, and sterile fluids required to keep intravenous medication tubes clean are among them.
Tax, Logistical Incentives Affect Manufacturers
Shortages have been driven by economic factors, reliance on foreign sources, and insufficient awareness of the pharmaceutical supply chain.
Many medicine firms have relocated overseas over the previous several decades because foreign governments have provided fiscal and logistical benefits as well as fewer regulations.
According to the report, more than 15 core critical care treatments have been in short supply for more than a decade, with the majority being injectable medications, which are more than twice as likely to be in short supply as other drugs that are administered orally or topically.
Antibiotics, which are used to prevent and cure bacterial infections, account for nearly one-third of the crucial medications in limited supply.
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Drug Shortages Delay Patients’ Treatments
Propofol, a sterile injectable sedative commonly given to patients before surgery by anesthesiologists, is currently in short supply and has “gone in and out of shortage” during the last 15 years, according to the research.
This was due to manufacturing delays, company exits, and unprecedented demand during the COVID-19 pandemic.
These medicine shortages have resulted in patient treatment delays, physicians resorting to less effective replacement treatments, and prescription errors. Some patients, notably those with cancer, have encountered a medicine shortage.
Peters stated that due to the federal government’s lack of supply chain monitoring and limited data exchange between the government and the pharma business, authorities such as the Food and pharma Administration are unable to effectively foresee drug shortages.
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