Health and Disability

In 2012 hundreds of prescription drugs were in short supply in the United States. Over 80 percent of these drugs were generic and many were commonly used as anti-infective, anesthesia, and chemotherapy agents (ASPE 2011; Woodcock and Wosinska 2012). That same year, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was given new and expanded powers to monitor and resolve shortages under the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act (FDASIA).

A nice recent piece in Health Affairs evaluates trends in drug shortages before and after the passage of FDASIA and by an acute versus non-acute care drug categorization. Using 2001-2014 data from the University of Utah’s Drug Information System (UUDIS), which contains the universe of shortages reported to the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists and is the primary data used innumerous government reports, the paper demonstrates an increase in the number and duration of acute care drug shortages since 2012, despite a decline in the number of new drug shortages over the same period.

Figure 3. Geographic Variation In Google Search For “Drug Shortage”