Drug shortage can put patients' lives at risk, experts warn

National shortage of over-the-counter and prescription drugs for health issues such as asthma, ADHD or cancer have been troubling patients and medical personnel for more than a year — and at a hearing this week, lawmakers and experts discussed the threats that patients face without having access to the drugs they need.

At the House Ways and Means Committee hearing earlier this week, expert witnesses — practitioners, researchers and pharmaceutical company executives — spoke about the pressing issue the shortages pose to patients' lives and health and possible ways the Congress can tackle it.

«We could have patients — cancer patients or pediatric patients, or other patients — without the drugs they need,» Stephen Schondelmeyer, director of the PRIME Institute at the University of Minnesota's College of Pharmacy, said at the hearing.

Shortages of some drugs have been an ongoing problem in the U.S. for more than a decade and were recently exacerbated by COVID-19, according to a report by the Senate Homeland Security Committee in March. Lack of necessary medication means patients have to get delayed treatments, substitutions or sometimes no treatment at all, the report found.

The shortage can hurt patients financially as well, Schondelmeyer said, as they have to turn to alternate products that can cost more.

There are more than 250 active pharmaceutical shortages as of early February, according tothe American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. The state of chemotherapy and hormonal drug shortages were characterized as the most severe shortages in 2023.

Patients in the rural areas may experience even more difficulty with drug access, Tennessee Oncology Chief Medical Officer Dr. Stephen Schleicher said at the hearing. In remote