No abstract

Drug shortages in developed countries pose a serious public health problem and have far-reaching implications for healthcare providers and their patients. Given the current state of the market, with the limited number of manufacturers and the array of manufacturing quality issues, drug shortages have become a global concern, forcing regulatory authorities to explore and implement strategies to prevent and mitigate drug shortages.

Shortages of pharmaceutical drugs pose a serious and growing threat to public health. Although the number of drugs in shortage in the United States in any given year is very small, the number of prescription drug shortages in the country nearly tripled between 2005 and 2010. Drug shortages are becoming more severe as well as more frequent. The affected medicines include cancer treatments, anesthesia drugs, and other drugs that are critical to the treatment and prevention of serious diseases and life-threatening conditions. (The White House, Office of the Press Secretary, Executive Order 13588-Reducing Prescription Drug Shortages (http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/10/31/executive-order-reducing-prescription-drug-shortages)).