How Manufacturing Disruptions, Price Competition Contribute to Drug Shortages

Drug shortages can occur for several reasons, but the end result is always the same—a negative impact on patients, families, and the entire health care system. Earlier this year, the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) reported that the number of active drug shortages in the United States reached an all-time high of 323.¹ Although that number has come down slightly to 277, the strain placed on health systems due to these shortages remains significant.

Michael Ganio, PharmD, BCPS, FASHP, said ASHP has put forward several policy solutions to help with drug shortages. These include enforcing existing shortage prevention requirements, improving transparency in manufacturer quality, and diversifying the manufacturing base. However, the shortage problem, which has been going on for many years, continues to occur.

Ganio, who is the senior director of Pharmacy Practice and Quality at ASHP, sat down with Drug Topics to discuss what role manufacturing disruptions play in exacerbating drug shortages, how the industry can become more resilient to such events, and how extreme price competition among generic manufacturers contributes to the persistence of drug shortages.

“This has been going on for decades,” Ganio said. “It continues to be a problem and has not really improved. The frustrating thing is, there have been multiple studies on what the causes are. We know there are solutions out there and yet we are still experiencing shortages. We had a record number of shortages earlier this year and there are policy solutions out there to address the problem. We just need action.”

READ MORE: Drug Shortages are Impacting Patient Care, Pharmacy Resources

References

1. Drug Shortages Statistics. Report. ASHP. Accessed November 15, 2024. https://www.ashp.org/drug-shortages/shortage-resources/drug-shortages-statistics