March 22, 2023 – The United States is facing a growing drug shortage so severe that it poses a risk to national security, based on a Senate report released Wednesday.
The medicines which are currently briefly supply include children’s medicines, antibiotics and ADHD treatments, says the report from the US Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
It says that the shortage of latest medicines increased by almost 30% from 2021 to 2022.
“Shortages continue to have devastating consequences for patients and healthcare workers, including medication errors and treatment delays. In some cases, they have led doctors to ration life-saving treatments,” the report said.
Committee Chairman Gary Peters (D-Michigan) said Wednesday that shortages peaked at 295 drugs late last 12 months and that “health care workers are now struggling with limited resources to treat patients in need.” NBC News reported.
The hill He noted: “The report also says that drug shortages last an average of about a year and a half and that more than 15 'critical' drugs have been in short supply for more than a decade.”
The federal government has no way of checking the complete supply chain. Much of it begins abroad, where many drug manufacturers have moved due to tax incentives and fewer regulation, the report says.
Peters said the country was too depending on foreign suppliers, especially those from China. He said this “remains an unacceptable risk to national security.”
Some patients are delayed in treatment, while others are given drugs that don’t work as well. “Some patients, including cancer patients, are struggling with a lack of alternative medications,” NBC wrote.
The committee called on Congress to order a cross-departmental review of supply chain risks to discover issues of safety.