Thousands of patients are facing delays in getting treatments for cancer and other life-threatening diseases as drug shortages in the United States approach record levels, says The New York Times.
There are 238 items on the drug shortages list of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists.
“This is, in my opinion, a public health emergency,” says Dr. Amanda Fader, a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and a president-elect of the Society of Gynecologic Oncology, “because of the breadth of the individuals it affects and the number of chemotherapy agents that are in shortage right now.”
White House officials and members of Congress are grappling with an opaque and sometimes interrupted supply chain and quality and financial issues that are leading to manufacturing shutdowns, the Times says. They’re examining the underlying causes of the faltering generic drug market, which accounts for about 90 percent of domestic prescriptions.
Some shortages, like those of weight-loss drugs, are the result of high demand, while others have been attributed to overprescribing, including for antibiotics, or a lack of investment in potential alternatives.
The Biden administration has assembled a team to find long-term solutions for shoring up the pharmaceutical supply chain as the United States remains heavily reliant on medicines and drug ingredients from India and China.
Officials have been debating possible measures including tax incentives for generic drugmakers and greater transparency around generic drug quality. The current incentives favor drugmakers with the lowest prices, which includes those that might cut corners — leading to disruptive plant shutdowns if the FDA requires a fix.
The FDA, which employs a team of about 10 people who do the day-to-day work of mitigating and reporting drug shortages, has said it's seeking authority from Congress to get additional information about the drug manufacturing and supply chain.
Four Senate bills with bipartisan sponsorship could help get generic drugs to market more quickly by addressing tactics or loopholes causing delays, the Times says.