US Pharmacists cite highest number of drug shortages since 2001

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In the first three months of 2024, there were 323 active drug shortages, the highest number since 2001, according to research by the University of Utah Drug Information Service.
The drug shortage data, collected quarterly, is generated from reports from health-care professionals, most of them pharmacists at hospitals and health systems, said Erin Fox, the lead researcher and the Drug Information Service’s director

Researchers follow up by contacting drug companies to verify that a shortage exists, and if so, why and how long it’s expected to last, Fox added. The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, in turn, publishes the findings on its website, ashp.org.
The Drug Information Service’s definition of a drug shortage is broader than the one used by the Food and Drug Administration, so the Utah shortage numbers are generally larger than the FDA’s. For example, if a drugstore had the adult-strength over-the-counter medicine, but no children’s version of the same drug, the Utah researchers would call that a shortage but the FDA might not, Fox said.
The drugs in short supply include chemotherapy agents, antibiotics, medications for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and pain medications. There are also shortages of medications used in hospital crash carts, the self-contained mobile units in hospitals used to perform lifesaving interventions during cardiac or respiratory arrest.

The data the Utah researchers collect, usually based on direct contact with drug companies, suggests that problems with manufacturing or supply-chain difficulties are the most commonly cited reason for shortages.
This article is part of The Post’s “Big Number” series, which takes a brief look at the statistical aspect of health issues. Additional information and relevant research are available through the hyperlinks



Apparently is in uk too

The number of warnings drug companies have issued about impending supply problems for certain products has more than doubled from 648 in 2020 to 1,634 last year


But I can't find the list and on various sites goes from 40 to 160 to whatever guardian here says anyone knows how to search uk healthcare system to figure it out?
 
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Have mentioned it before, but the main cause of a lot of the shortages we have had is people using things for off label use. Dont want to powerlevel too hard, but just off the top of my head, the first three months of this year and now currently there were at least 7 drugs I work with that had a shortage and we kept having to sub things out. One thing I noticed is that most of them were drugs that were used for what I feel werent "medically needed" by those using them, like ozempic, nutropin, genotropin and some other growth hormone ones.
 
Really? I though it would be more than a nuisance when the diabetes and AIDS meds dry up.
Whats missing?
funny enough I dont think we had any shortages of any aids meds. the ones that have had shortages are the diabetes meds, some growth hormone meds for those that actually need it. Dont think I saw any notices for any others,

to get into why its annoying, most people getting their meds dont care why there is a shortage, they care that they can miss a dose of their meds, then get mad at the pharmacies. From that, the pharmacies can risk not having that person come back to continue filling with them. This can really suck for them because some of these meds cost a shit ton, so lots of potential lost money, tho the person getting the med will almost never see the cost.
 
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Here is the list from ASHP. Some are bullshit items like sterile water, saline and glucose, and really bullshit items like "Desiccated Thyroid Tablets". More concerning are antibiotics like Amoxil/Augmentin, Vancomycin, and Isoniazid; anticancer drugs like Cisplatin, Capcitabine, Docetaxel and Gemcitabine, etc etc -- there really are a lot of anticancer drugs in short supply, important cardiac drugs like Amiodarone, the mainstay of general anesthesia Propofol, and that ultra-versatile corticosteroid Dexamethasone.

Testosterone, both transdermal and injection, is on the list, but not tittie-skitties. So much for the troon's anguish cries.

Most of these drugs are generic.

Really? I though it would be more than a nuisance when the diabetes and AIDS meds dry up.
Some formulations of insulin are on the list, but my quick glance spotted no oral hypoglycemics. There is no AIDS drug.
 
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Have mentioned it before, but the main cause of a lot of the shortages we have had is people using things for off label use. Dont want to powerlevel too hard, but just off the top of my head, the first three months of this year and now currently there were at least 7 drugs I work with that had a shortage and we kept having to sub things out. One thing I noticed is that most of them were drugs that were used for what I feel werent "medically needed" by those using them, like ozempic, nutropin, genotropin and some other growth hormone ones.
Ive finally gotten 2 rxs in a row with little hassle. I am prescribed stimulants for narcolepsy not adhd, and though I feel for those who really genuinely suffer from adhd... I see so many people getting diagnosed and relying on drugs to make them focus instead of actually building their lifestyle to ease them and working to repair their internet induced broken attention span. That and all the adhd kids that are probably literally normal kids who have parents that didnt or cant parent them coupled with internet brain rot. Timmy probably doesnt need adderall to hyper focus on a minecraft build for 3 hours instead of learning how to navigate bordemn, and it isnt legal for me to drive unmedicated lol.

These drug shortages keep making me feel extremely bitter. I wish it didnt.
 
Really bullshit items like "Desiccated Thyroid Tablets".

I'd be basically non functioning without my thyroxine medication so no i don't think it's a bullshit medication. Although that's bloody serious about the diabetic medications and hospital shortages, is pharma produced in the states or is it all outsourced to Poojets?
 
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ADHD drugs are constantly in short supply. Dextroamphetamine is super popular for rich college students to abuse since they think it makes them better students (spoiler: not true, and has been proven not true, but your average 19 yo Ivy Leaguer doesn't give a fuck of course). The DEA only allows a certain amount of dextro to be produced to thwart abuse, but of course if you (and your family) have billions in the bank you can get whatever you want, so shitloads of dextro gets diverted, and the few people with literal ADHD get fucked.

Cancer drugs are always in short supply, expensive to make and the client base is small and the drugs only get used a few times per patient, so the profit isn't there. Many of the rest are drugs that serve a relatively small group of people, so again the profit isn't there.

This sort of bullshit is what you get when a country's health care system is completely built around profit. You get 20 drugs to treat "cholesterol" which for a while was code for weight loss, and actual diseases are treated with drugs developed in the 1960s.

The whole shitshow with semaglutide (Ozempic) is an example of a drugmaker padding their profit margins by underhanded off label promotion of a beetus drug for miracle weight loss, leading to people with GI tracts that have to be removed due to drug induced paralysis.
 
Prescribed Adderall. I've been unable to get twice bc shortage, I also have to manually ask on the fucking app for a refill everytime. I don't even take it every day. Just days when I work or if I have a brutally long backpacking trip.

How do you order from India? Can Americans do that?
 
[shortage of] anticancer drugs
No refunds.
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Oopsie doodles!
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I work in a pharmacy, not a pharmacist but there's been a lot of medications just not available and it's super annoying for everyone involved. Big pharma has not been on its A-game in a while.
What is the root cause of it if you hear that kind of thing.
but the main cause of a lot of the shortages we have had is people using things for off label use.
For the stuff like ozempic yeah for sure. We’ve had a shortage here in the uk of very very basic stuff like children’s dosages of paracetamol (tylenol for Americans.) that cannot be off label usage, you need a prescription for antibiotics here, and paracetamol is sold OTC in very small packs (and only one pack per customer.)
There’s a supply chain issue somewhere . Now I can kind of get that for stuff like monoclonal or ozempic, that’s not trivial manufacture. But paracetamol? I’ve made paracetamol in various uni/ school lab classes, it’s easy as. And antibiotics? Basic generic antibiotics? What’s going on?
It is a feedstock chemical issue, or a manufacturer issue or what?
 
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