drug shortage ?

beckyboo1, BSN, RN · Sep 24, 2011

Our hospital has been out of Decadron for a long time, now they tell us the next shortage is Levaquin. Something about it going generic and there's a stockpile of it somewhere waiting for FDA approval.

DoGoodThenGo · Sep 24, 2011

Saw the same report on "World News Tonight" but the problem has been going on for quite some time now. Indeed ABC news amoung other sources have been tracking the problem since last spring or summer IIRC.

There are several factors at work but the main ones are drug companies no longer producing some generics because the prices are too low. Bottlenecks in production due to quality control issues and or problems in obtaining raw materials are another source of woe.

Things have gotten so bad hospitals/facilities are diverting pharmacy staff to spending much of their time on duty to scout out drug supplies. Indeed the Cleveland Clinic (covered in the ABC news report) has hired a full time pharmacist who does nothing all day but locate meds that are in short supply.

A bill in Congress which many in the healthcare field are pushing would require drug companies to begin sending out warning notices soon as they know supplies of a drug are running short, not after the fact. The doctor interviewed from the Cleveland Clinic stated they only find out a drug is NLA when an order is placed.

Other measures being pushed are to allow more meds from overseas to be imported to the USA especially if they are in short supply here. Also some want more federal funding for R&D along with production of generic meds.

Bad as things are now they could get worse in the coming year or so. Lipitor amoung many other top shelf drugs will have their patents expire starting next year. Once the patents expire it remains to be seen in this climate who will pick up the generic versions, at what cost and will the brand name med still be produced.

Finally OTHO some feel this is a good arguement against the United States having a single payer system and or a federal drug formulary for Medicare/Medicaid. If one believes the drug companies one of the reasons they stop production of a drug is that the amount paid by the government and or insurance companies does not cover their costs. If prices are driven lower it will just increase the incentive for other products to be taken out of production.

xtxrn, ASN, RN · Sep 24, 2011

It's all inexcusable....wonder how the CEOs, CFOs, and COOs of the drug companies enjoyed their vacations this year...had enough money to put into those, I'm sure Or the ads on TV, so patients can show up in the offices and demand drugs, instead of actually getting a real dx from the doc. Those ads aren't free. Or the class action suits re: side effects that are on labels. (Of course there are risks to pregnant women who take medications....duh).

More areas where the US is failing.

Not_A_Hat_Person, RN · Sep 24, 2011

Finally OTHO some feel this is a good arguement against the United States having a single payer system and or a federal drug formulary for Medicare/Medicaid. If one believes the drug companies one of the reasons they stop production of a drug is that the amount paid by the government and or insurance companies does not cover their costs. If prices are driven lower it will just increase the incentive for other products to be taken out of production.

Do Canada, the UK, or other countries with single-payer health systems have similar problems with drug shortages?

freebirdRN86 · Sep 24, 2011

My boyfriend went to fill his adderral script today and the pharmacy only filled 45/60 prescribed pills because of a shortage.

DoGoodThenGo · Sep 24, 2011

Do Canada, the UK, or other countries with single-payer health systems have similar problems with drug shortages?

May have a slight left edge, but pipe:

http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110922/GJOPINION03/709229938/-1/SANNEWS

http://inthesetimes.com/article/11935/u.s._drug_shortage_big_pharma_big_*****-up/

In short the answer is that given the global nature of big pharma and it's network countries around the world are affected in one way or another.

MrChicagoRN, RN · Sep 24, 2011

I am watching the news and they are talking about there being a drug shortage with lot of drugs . how can this happen ? have any of you not been able to get or find drugs ?

Yep. It's fairly common. When a company has limited capacity, or is not showing an adequate financial return on a drug, they'll stop making it.

tewdles, RN · Sep 24, 2011

Yup...I changed hospitals for my chemo because the first large hospital system could not give my my 5FU routinely...they did not have an uninterrupted source in the shortage. So I got 2 incomplete courses of chemo.

TEVA, which manufactures 5FU halted production in its US plant last OCT (I think) because it is generic and not profitable. They notified NO ONE about that stop in production. The product coming in from far east plants had glass and other contaminants in them. Big Pharm would like us to use a newer more expensive drug which is oral, and converts to 5FU in your system. Unfortunately, it also has more side effects.

TonyaM73, ASN, RN · Sep 24, 2011

We have seen a shortage of Levoquin for months now. If the pt comes in with infection (not Pneumonia), pharmacy changes the order if the doc writes for levoquin or makes it PO instead of IV. If it is pneumonia, there is no way around it if that is what the MD orders.

blondy2061h, MSN, RN · Sep 24, 2011

Every other day we get an email about some drug shortage. The latest is Compazine. They recommended using Zofran instead, but many of our patients get alternating Compazine and Zofran to control their nausea.

mama_d, BSN, RN · Sep 24, 2011

Apparently no IV Acyclovir either...which sucks b/c we've had a few immunocompromised pts with raging herpes infections recently, and the oral dosing just wasn't cutting it.

We've also switched from IV pepcid to IV Zantac...I'm assuming that's a supply issue as well.

Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN · Sep 24, 2011

Screw the patients........It's ALL about the money.......:flmngmd: