On March 8, 2024, a pharmacy in London, England sold boxed Wegovy produced by Novo Nordisk.
Holly Adams | Reuters
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Good Afternoon! U.S. Drug Shortage Has Reached record highleaving countless patients in trouble.
According to statistics, there were 323 types of medicines in shortage in the first quarter of this year, higher than the record high of 320 types in 2014. data Released last week by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists and the University of Utah Drug Information Service. This is the largest number of drugs since the organization began tracking shortages in 2001.
So which drugs are affected by the shortage?
Everything from low doses of Novo Nordisk’s blockbuster diet pill to low supplies wiggscertain doses of Eli Lilly’s popular diabetes injection and weight-loss counterpart Zepbound, which targets key cancer treatments and common antibiotics.Many of these are generic drugs, making up most The American Prescription.
“All drug classes are susceptible to shortages,” Paul Abramowitz, CEO of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP), wrote in a report. Blog article Thursday.
But he said “some of the most concerning shortages involve generic sterile injectable medicines, including cancer chemotherapy drugs and emergency medicines stored in hospital ambulances and surgical areas.” Ongoing scarcity Abramowitz added that the use of ADHD medications “remains a serious challenge for clinicians and patients.”
The drug shortage databases maintained by the two organizations are based on voluntary reports from practitioners, patients and others. These figures have been confirmed by the drug manufacturer. The list often contains more drugs than the FDA considers to be in short supply.
It’s unclear how many patients are affected by the current drug shortage. But the average shortage from 2016 to 2020 affected at least 500,000 patients, many of them elderly, according to one agency. analyze The Department of Health and Human Services informed Congress of the situation in May.
Shortages can cause serious problems.
Margot Wood, the Oregon-based author of “Fresh,” said intermittent shortages of ADHD medication have disrupted her daily life for about a year and a half. Wood said she usually functions without medication, but noted that each task was “more complex and difficult” and took “three times as long” to complete.
“Not only do I need jobs, I need them to maintain my relationships, my role as a mom, my hobbies and things, and my daily life,” Wood told CNBC.
Wood said that while patients in some states can find the medications they need at different pharmacies, there’s nothing she can do in Oregon.That’s because Oregon considers ADHD drugs controlled substancesmeaning Wood could only fill her prescription at her designated pharmacy.
Wood said when her medications do come back in stock, she often rations them to prepare for possible future shortages. She added that it was “frustrating” that patients and even some pharmacists didn’t know the reasons behind the shortage.
JB Reed | Bloomberg | Getty Images
So what exactly is causing drug shortages? how to solve this problem?
According to the latest data from ASHP and the University of Utah Drug Information Service, about 60% of drug manufacturers do not disclose the factors behind drug scarcity.
Some drugmakers say demand outstrips supply, as is the case with popular weight-loss pills and diabetes drugs. Others said manufacturing and quality issues, such as supply chain gaps, played a role.
But the Biden administration says deeper problems could lead to shortages, particularly of generic drugs.
In February, the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Health and Human Services said they were studying the role played by drug wholesalers and companies that purchase drugs for U.S. health care providers in these shortages. The agencies will determine whether these middlemen are abusing their market power to lower the price of generic drugs to the point where manufacturers cannot make a profit and have to stop production, and to prevent rival suppliers from competing in the generic drug market.
The Biden administration has also taken other steps to address Medicines are in short supply.Last week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) outlined policy suggestion Help prevent supply shortages and mitigate vulnerability.
This includes working with drugmakers and hospitals to make medicines markets more transparent and encourage companies to invest in resilient and diverse medicines supply chains.
Abramowitz said Thursday that some of the recommendations are consistent with those of ASHP, but the organization has ‘serious concern’ About some parts of the plan. He pointed to a proposal that could penalize hospitals that lack the resources to comply with the recommendations.
“Much work remains to be done at the federal level to address the root causes of drug shortages,” Abramowitz wrote.
Please feel free to send Annika any tips, suggestions, story ideas and data: annikakim.constantino@nbcuni.com.
Latest Healthcare Technology
UnitedHealth reveals financial impact of Change Healthcare cyber attack
On April 13, 2020, UnitedHealth Group’s corporate logo appeared on the side of an office building in Santa Ana, California, USA.
Mike Black | Reuters
UnitedHealth said the first-quarter incident cost it 74 cents a share in earnings and expects the full-year impact to be between $1.15 and $1.35 a share.
“The core story of UnitedHealth Group continues to be our colleagues delivering better experiences for the people we serve and driving balanced growth while delivering results quickly and efficiently,” UnitedHealth Group CEO Andrew Witty said in a press release. Responding to the attacks transforming health care.
UnitedHealth, which owns Change Healthcare, discovered that cyberthreats breached some of the department’s information technology systems in February. The company had to shut down affected systems, leaving many doctors temporarily unable to fill prescriptions or get paid for their services. Many are still dealing with the consequences.
UnitedHealth shares were up more than 5% as of 11 a.m. ET on Tuesday.
UnitedHealth’s Optum acquired Change Healthcare in 2022 for $13 billion. The Justice Department sued that year to block the acquisition, but the deal was ultimately approved.
During the company’s quarterly conference call with investors on Tuesday, Witty said UnitedHealth Group’s ownership of Change Healthcare “is important to the country.” Either way, an attack could have happened, he said, but if UnitedHealth didn’t own the company, Change Healthcare wouldn’t have the resources or support it needs to bring its systems back online.
“We’re going to bring it back stronger than before,” Witty said.
UnitedHealth Chief Financial Officer John Rex said on a conference call that the company’s insurance arm, UnitedHealthcare, “has largely returned to normal in terms of claims submission activity” following the cyber attack. He said claims are proceeding as expected.
It’s unclear how the attack occurred or what data was leaked.
Please feel free to send Ashley any tips, suggestions, story ideas, and data: ashley.capoot@nbcuni.com.
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