The Canadian journal of cardiology
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Drug shortages have been reported for > 35 years. Attention to this problem increased recently after the Sandoz crisis, in which a warning letter by the Food and Drug Administration caused supply changes that suspended the availability of numerous medications. The frequency of drug shortages has increased recently. ⋯ The critical importance of drug shortages is increasingly recognized by members of the public, and health care providers must sometimes make major efforts to minimize their adverse consequences. Although data are limited, such efforts come at a price that patients and the health care system should not have to bear; they divert pharmacists and physicians from their already busy clinical duties and often require complex and risky adjustments in medical regimens. If drug shortages are here to stay, clinicians, drug manufacturers, and relevant organizations should work together to increase accountability for drug availability and adaptation to shortages, and to create more effective tools with which to anticipate and respond to critical supply fluctuations.