Drug Shortages Back In US Congressional Spotlight

Drug shortages were a significant focus of legislative attention in the US before the COVID-19 pandemic, and Congress is not likely to drop the issue now that the public health emergency is winding down.

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The Senate hearing raised several familiar themes that could end up in legislation. • Source: Shutterstock

The US Food and Drug Administration and Congress may want to rethink their approach to the essential medicines list to make it a more useful tool for preventing drug shortages, Erin Fox, University of Utah associate chief pharmacy officer, suggested during a 22 March Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on drug shortages.

As currently constructed, the FDA’s essential medicines list is “actually not intended to identify those that are most vulnerable” to shortages, Fox said. Instead, the list focuses on drugs...

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