o'scamcare - Drug Shortages Vex Doctors

Drug Shortages Continue to Vex Doctors

By Sabina Tavernise, NY Times, Mo.10Feb14

Read the complete article: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DrudgeReportFeed/~3/qg-M05FPWeA/shortages-of-critical-drugs-continue-to-vex-doctors-study-finds.html

     NYT: Despite efforts by the Obama administration to ease shortages of critical drugs, shortfalls have persisted, forcing doctors to resort to rationing in some cases or to scramble for alternatives, a government watchdog agency said on Monday. The number of annual drug shortages — both new and continuing ones — nearly tripled from 2007 to 2012.
     [..]
“We are at a public health crisis when we don’t have the medicines to treat acutely ill patients and we don’t have the basics like intravenous fluids,” said Erin Fox, a drug expert at the University of Utah whose data was used in the analysis. The most acute shortage now is that of basic IV fluids, she said.  
     [..]
     One study it cited found that production in the sterile injectable market had increased by half between 2006 and 2010, without a similar rise in manufacturing capability. Manufacturers, motivated by profit, will often choose to increase production of higher profit drugs on their busy factory floors, even if that means risking a shortage of less profitable drugs.
     The accountability office praised the F.D.A. for increased nimbleness, and acknowledged that it could not ultimately force drug companies to produce. But it said the agency needs to use its drug databases, not just to track which drugs are running low, but also to identify patterns that can help prevent shortages.

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