What’s causing a national drug shortage?
Jeremy Hobson: Well today Congress will bring together doctors, hospitals and drug makers to talk about the list of drugs that we’re running out of in this country.
From the Marketplace health desk at WHYY in Philadelphia, Gregory Warner reports.
Gregory Warner: Some drugs are in such short supply that hospitals are buying them on the gray market, paying 10 times the price for certain cancer medications or anesthetics, or telling doctors to use unfamiliar alternatives. That’s led to overdoses, deaths, and in some cases, patients waking up in the middle of surgery.
Michael Cohen: You know, it’s a very, very scary situation.
Michael Cohen is president of the Institute for Safe Medicine Practices. He says consolidation in the generic drug industry is a big part of the problem: too few manufacturers.
Cohen: They’ve literally decided it’s not profitable enough to make this drug anymore. We’re not getting paid enough for it.
Medicare limits drug prices. Two bills in Congress would require drugmakers to alert the FDA before they stop production, so at least hospitals can make other plans. A more controversial fix would allow hospitals to buy drugs overseas. That could lead to other problems, like nurses having to decode dosing information — in French.
In Philadelphia, I’m Gregory Warner for Marketplace.
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