The effectiveness of any drug supply systems in providing a trustworthy supply of essential drugs is a critical issue. To evaluate this effectiveness, it is necessary to watch over the status of the essential medicines in any country impartially and continuously. Some countries and also the World Health Organization (WHO) have codified a list of minimum medicines needed for a basic health ...

The consensus statement by Unguru et al concerning national shortages of therapies used to treat children with cancer accomplishes 2 important tasks: it highlights a serious public health threat and proposes steps to address the problem. The working group (WG) has outlined 6 recommendations. All are constructive approaches and, in the case of the recommendations that are within US Food and Drug...

http://healthaffairs.org/blog/2011/06/08/rx-drug-shortages-regulation-can-be-deadly/ Cass Sunstein, President Obama’s regulatory czar, announced last week that the administration intends to repeal costincreasing, unnecessary regulations [1] from 30 different agencies. If the administration is serious in this effort, a good place to start is with a web of regulations that are preventing life sav...

Shortages of prescription generic drugs have recently made headlines in Canada and elsewhere. The causes and possible solutions for these shortages are still unclear. With the failure of "market forces," has the time come to establish a Crown corporation to ensure the supply of essential drugs?

T he mean survival time for people older than 60 years with acute myeloid leukemia (AmL) is about 7 months. only 15% survive 5 years or longer, and that percentage hasn't changed in decades. the poor prognosis for these patients is due in part to the fact that many cannot tolerate the toxic chemotherapy used as first-line treatment, a combination of cytarabine and daunorubicin. Both are generic...

Hospital pharmacists have become accustomed to drug shortages over the past few years. For example, in 2010, 94% of Canadian pharmacists surveyed claimed that they had had difficulty locating a medication during the previous week. A 2010 survey of members of the American Society of HealthSystem Pharmacists indicated that both pharmacists and pharmacy technicians were spending an average of 8–9 ...