Whats causing the unusually high number of drug shortages in the U.S.
Ali Rogin:
If you`ve recently struggled to get a prescription filled or buy certain over-the-counter medicines, you`re not alone. By late spring this year, there were 309 ongoing drug shortages in the US. The highest in nearly a decade. Experts blame supply chain gaps, manufacturing delays, and spikes in demand for the shortages. But what does that mean for doctors, parents, and patients who are caught in the middle?
Michael Ganio is a senior director at the American Society of Health System Pharmacists. Thank you so much for joining us.
Michael, drug shortages are not that uncommon, but to have so many at one time is what are some of the factors contributing to the situation?
Michael Ganio, American Society of Health-System Pharmacists: Well, there are several reasons for drug shortages. What we`ve seen recently are some demand spikes. As you noted, there are weight loss medications used for diabetes. There`s unprecedented demand for those attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder medications commonly known as Adderall or Ritalin, those have been in short supply because of high demand.
The other side of that is manufacturing delays, and sometimes it`s a disruption due to quality. It`s not a problem with the quality of the product, but it`s a process issue that has held up production. And if anyone has heard of the ongoing oncology drug shortages, things we use to treat cancers, chemotherapy drugs, those have been caused because of some of these quality issues prohibiting release of the products.
So really, there are a lot of different causes, and we`ve even seen geopolitical threats to the supply chain. And of course, during COVID-19, we had supply chain disruptions across the board.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7sa7SZ6arn1%2Bjsri%2Fx6isq2ejnby4e9ahmK2rXZiutr%2FIp55mrJiaera61KysmqScrnqptcahZKetnZeys3nOn2SdqqWcerS0zqurmp%2BVqHqquoytn55lpWLA