In “Shortages Lead Doctors to Ration Critical Drugs” (NPR, October 3, 2011), Richard Knox reports that “a growing number of Americans are not getting the medications they need…(including) cancer chemotherapy agents, anesthetics, antibiotics, (and) electrolytes needed for nutrient solutions.”
While approximately half of all drug shortages are due to production quality issues, the other half is avoidable with the help of government intervention. Older generic brands, which are not produced by companies due to their low profit, can be made in larger quantities if the government will offer subsidies or incentives. This is an example of market failure—companies are not keeping up with the demand, so government mediation is necessary in order to protect these susceptible individuals. So far, there have been 15 deaths due to these shortages with no “end in sight.” Without these essential drugs, unnecessary rationing and life and death decisions will be made, raising ethical issues.
As a community member, my perspective is: if these drugs can be cheaply made and lives are depending on its availability, then why can’t people have access to them? For those opposed to government intervention, I leave with you this—if the U.S. government is willing to bail out corporations, why can’t it bail out the health system when it matters the most?
Sincerely,
Leslie Salas
Berkeley, CA
Leslie,
ReplyDeleteDrug shortages is a very important issue that is likely to get worse with health care reform no that more Americans will have access to prescriptions. American’s often take for granted prescription drug availability but this is becoming a serious problem, I recently read that there were a record high of 157 drug shortages, one being Propofol the main drug used for Anesthesia making . You made a wonderful point and highlighted the federal governments limitation in regulating prescription drug supply. Currently the FDA can only help identify shortages, they cannot require a company to start or continue manufacturing a drug. I think it would be hard for the government to pass legislator that would require a company to produce a less preferable product. This is really unfortunate because I fear that it will take another catastrophe like that seen in 1937 from Elixer Sulfanlidamide, to expand the FDA’s authority.
Shannon Lance