Drug shortages… put people in danger

Recently, I used to be informed a couple of major problem with the supply of medicines for consumers and healthcare institutions. My youngest daughter is allergic to exploit and cheese, which requires her to hold an epipen along with her in any respect times and to have it along with her in school. When I went to refill her prescription on the pharmacy recently, I used to be only allowed to purchase 1 box of epipens. There are 2 pens in each package, so we want two, one to hold and one to depart in school. The pharmacist told me there was a shortage of emergency epinephrine syringes, so we could only get separately.

I used to be reading the health section today www.msnbc.com and I discovered an article that basically interested me: “When Essential Medicines Run Out, Patients Pay the Price.” This article discusses current drug shortages and the way these shortages threaten the health and well-being of the U.S. population. According to the Food and Drug Administration, most drug shortages are because of manufacturing problems, safety concerns and production delays. The article stated that there are currently 150 drugs on the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists’ shortage list. I went to their website, www.ashp.organd discovered that there are literally 150 drugs on the list, and the issue is so widespread that an article titled “ASHP ​​Guidelines for Managing Drug Product Shortages in Hospitals and Health Systems” was published on their website.

Over the past yr, I even have noticed shortages of medicines needed in my practice, and now this shortage has affected me at home. Unfortunately, the FDA doesn’t have the authority to be sure that drug corporations produce adequate supplies of medication. To address drug shortages, a change within the pharmaceutical drug supply chain is required.