In 2012, the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act gave the FDA expanded powers to monitor and resolve drug shortages. A recent paper in Health Affairs evaluated trends in drug shortages before and after the passage of act and by an acute versus non-acute care drug categorization.
The paper is based on 2001-14 data from the University of Utah's Drug Information System in Salt Lake City, which contains the entire list of shortages reported to the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists.
Here are four things to know about the report:
- There's an increase in the number and duration of acute care drug shortages since 2012 despite a decline in the amount of new drug shortages over the same period.
- Shortages of acute care drugs, which had a median duration of 242 days, became increasingly frequent and prolonged compared with non-acute care drugs, which had a median duration of 173 days.
- When comparing the current FDA and UUDIS drug shortages lists, researchers found that of the 149 drugs on the UUDIS list as of May 5, only 52 — 34 percent — were also on the FDA's list.
- These results suggest that the drug supply for many acutely and critically ill patients in the United States remains vulnerable despite federal efforts.
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