U.S. Drug Shortage: Big Pharma, Big Phuck-Up

[marmar]

from In These Times:



U.S. Drug Shortage: Big Pharma, Big Phuck-Up
An under-regulated industry collapses in on itself; the sick pay the price.

BY Terry J. Allen


The wait is over: Even without socialist healthcare you can enjoy drug rationing. More than 200 drugs—from chemotherapy staples to antibiotics, from anesthesia to morphine—are now being denied to critically ill people, rationed or scalped at stratospheric prices. Quality problems, including potentially deadly microbial contamination, caused more than half the recent shortages in injectable drugs, according to the Food and Drug Administration.

”Pharmacists are scrambling and desperate,” says Amanda Forster of Premier Inc., a major hospital drug-purchasing cooperative. Five years ago the FDA reported only 55 drugs in short supply; by 2010, there were 178; and this year, Premier predicts, 350. The majority are low-profit generics, but big-name drugs are also affected. Hard-to-make sterile injectables such as anesthesias and chemotherapies are particularly hard hit.

Ondis Eardensohn discovered the problem firsthand on August 8, when the former rural Vermont postmaster and partner of the state archivist drove two hours to New Hampshire’s Dartmouth Hitchcock Hospital for an infusion of Doxil. The Johnson & Johnson (J&J) chemotherapy drug is one of the only remaining treatments for her stage-4 cancer. She went through the usual tests and was waiting for the infusion when her doctor walked in. “‘I’m sorry,’ he told me, ‘but we don’t have enough Doxil to treat you.’ “

“I drove home with no treatment. I was in shock,” said Eardensohn, 58, a warm and usually optimistic mother of two. “When you are at stage-4, your options get more and more limited. If you have one option taken away, it may have been your last.” A week later, the region’s major teaching hospital called her at home the night before her appointment to cancel another Doxil treatment. ..............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/11935/u.s._drug_shortage_big_pharma_big_phuck-up

[Horse with no Name]

1. I am guessing this is the pharmaceutical industry trying to overturn regulation?

Why not...everyone else is doing it. Sigh.

[valerief]

3. +1000

[xchrom]

2. Recommend