FDA Works to Lessen Drug Shortage Impact

FDA says the number of drug shortages has nearly tripled over the last six years, jumping from 61 drug products in 2005 to 178 in 2010.

Federal regulators are asking U.S. drugmakers for advance warning of production shortages, saying medicine scarcities are continuing to increase at a rapid pace after reaching a record high in 2010.

FDA officials are working closely with industry, health care providers, and patients to prevent and mitigate shortages of "medically necessary” medicines. Medically necessary drugs are those used to treat or prevent a serious disease or medical condition for which there is no alternative medicine available in adequate supply.

FDA says the number of drug shortages has nearly tripled over the last six years—jumping from 61 drug products in 2005 to 178 in 2010—and that doesn’t include shortages of vaccines, immune globulin products, and other biologics