Important Takeaways:
- Erin Fox has tracked drug shortages for more than 20 years, and she sees no easy solutions for what has become a record run.
- Total active shortages hit an all-time high of 323 in this year’s first quarter, according to the University of Utah Drug Information Service. That’s up about 86% from a 10-year low of 174 last reached in 2017.
- There were 48 new shortages recorded this year through March, according to the data, published by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists.
- Q: Is there any good news?
- A: Last year, Congress held four hearings on shortages. They’re still very interested. People are really starting to talk about doing hard work both on the policy side but also maybe a little bit of Congressional action to really try to move this problem forward.
- I’ve been leading our efforts to provide data on drug shortages since 2001. This is truly the most interest I’ve ever seen.
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