April 18, 2024 – Requesting a refill on the local pharmacy or receiving a full course of a selected chemotherapy regimen is becoming an increasing number of accidental as issues within the pharmaceutical supply chain mount.
Drug shortages have reached record levels, reaching a brand new high of 323 drugs within the US where demand has exceeded supply in the primary three months of 2024. This surpasses the record of 320 energetic shortages in 2014, in accordance with knowledgeable group that monitors the issues together with the University of Utah.
The shortages extend far beyond blockbuster injectable weight-loss drugs. These include quite a few antibiotics and medications for heart and vascular problems.
“Some of the most concerning shortages involve generic sterile injectable medications, including cancer chemotherapy drugs and emergency medications stored in emergency carts and hospital treatment areas. “The ongoing national shortage of treatments for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder continues to pose a serious challenge for physicians and patients,” wrote Paul W. Abramowitz, PharmD, CEO of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, in his most up-to-date report blog entry.
The American Society of Health System Pharmacists and the University of Utah Drug Information Service collect voluntary deficiency reports and maintain a Database of drug shortages.
In some cases, people searching for their next dose of rare drugs just like the diabetes drug Ozempic and its weight-loss counterpart Wegovy last yr turned to substitutes like compounded versions that may result in unintended effects. The situation led to this FDA should warn people to avoid compounded versions and to bear in mind that some medications could also be marketed with the identical energetic ingredient although they as a substitute contain a salt formulation that has not been proven to be secure or effective.
Ozempic isn’t any longer in energetic shortage, but Wegovy can still be difficult to search out. Ozempic and Wegovy are each manufactured by Novo Nordisk and use the identical energetic ingredient, semaglutide. According to the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists database, the semaglutide shortage began in 2022.
The FDA also maintains one List of shortages and recently added most doses of one other recent and popular injectable weight reduction drug called Zepbound (its generic name is tirzepatide). The version of tirzepatide used for diabetes is named Mounjaro and each are manufactured by Eli Lilly. The shortage comes just months after the FDA approved Zepbound, and the agency says the “limited availability” will likely last until not less than June of this yr.