AHA says penalties as well as incentives are needed to face down 'persistent' drug shortages
Questex LLC | January 15, 2019
Persistent drug shortages have become dangerous and costly, the American Hospital Association says, forcing staff to use drugs with which they have less experience and that are sometimes more expensive. Responding to an FDA request for comment, the AHA, which represents 5,000 hospitals and 270,000 physicians, has crafted (PDF) a lengthy list of suggestions for addressing the problems that include both the carrot and the stick. It calls for some incentives to ensure drugmakers have contingency plans for producing essential drugs and to entice other drugmakers to make products that are often in need. But it also asks Congress to put penalties in place for drug manufacturers that don’t quickly respond to a shortage. Some of the recommendations seemed pointed at specific producers like Pfizer, where a warning letter for problems at one of its Hospira plants has led to shortages of injected opioids, pain drugs that hospitals turn to every day.