The Future of Drug Shortage Cases in the US
Drug shortages in the US have been on a significant rise in the last decade. The delay or denial of appropriate patient care due to such shortages has been one of the biggest threats in the healthcare industry. More than 90% of hospitals have faced a critical situation due to shortage of a particular drug and the problem has impacted almost every department in a healthcare institution.
Read on to find out how the important players in the healthcare environment will be responding to the increasing FDA backorder list in the upcoming years.
FDA and drug manufacturers focus on modernizing manufacturing procedures
More than 65% of drug shortage problems arise due to defects in the drug manufacturing processes. With the use of modern manufacturing technologies, the efficiency of drug production is enhanced and chances of product failure are also mitigated. As a result, the quality of drugs is improved and the consistency in delivering the drugs is intact. In order to make this a reality, FDA will be working in close quarters with drug manufacturing companies in the upcoming years. FDA will support drug manufacturers by establishing standard guidelines and offering special resources to resolve scientific manufacturing issues. One such measure that has been implemented by the FDA is the approval of 3D printed pill for treating patients with epilepsy.
The World Health Organisation proposes significant changes to tackle drug shortages at a global level
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has pointed out some significant reasons for the drug shortage, which includes poor quality of demand data, failure to define drug quality standards, too much importance for price and insufficient management practices. WHO comes up with two important suggestions to tackle the problem. Firstly, price intervention which implies placing of minimum prices on particular drugs would encourage continuity and consequently improve supply. However, the acceptance of this recommendation in the US is still questionable. Secondly, it suggests the implementation of multiple reporting systems for reducing the drug shortage problem. The FDA has an up-to-date list of drugs that are facing shortages and this list must be further supported with notification systems and regulatory warning systems. These systems must also focus on establishing systematic approaches for the appropriate clinical use of drugs that are in short supply.
Hospitals and healthcare organizations are reaching out to manufacturers directly
Distributors, group purchasing organizations and online marketplaces are constantly working towards mitigating the problem caused by the US FDA drug shortage list . These key players of the pharmaceutical industry take all possible measures to build sustainable supply lines. However, sometimes there isn’t much that these entities can do to mitigate the problem and this is when health care systems believe that dealing directly with the manufacturing bodies can help. However, the list of drugs procured directly from the manufacturer will form only a small fraction of the overall organizational needs and the health systems will continue to depend on the traditional relationships for the rest of the drugs. This can also help to address rectify the relationship problems between distributors and manufacturers by keep the former out of production issues.
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