Stacey Hughes, executive vice president of the AHA, wrote the letter in response to questions from Congressional leaders about how prescription drug shortages are affecting patients.
“Shortages can adversely affect patient care … requiring the use of less effective alternative treatments,” Ms. Hughes wrote. “As a result, diseases, such as childhood leukemia, that are curable or manageable for most patients, may not be able to be treated effectively.”
Ms. Hughes said encouraging drugmakers to diversify manufacturing sites and increase inventories, as well as requesting that the FDA take action, could help to stabilize access to the “essential drugs,” including local anesthetics, hospitals need.
She pointed to the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the shuttering of Akorn Pharmaceuticals, “which made about 100 essential hospital medications, such as albuterol,” and Accord Pharmaceutical’s decision to temporarily stop making three cancer drugs after learning about manufacturing quality issues at its site in India as reasons for scant access to lifesaving medications.
Read Ms. Hughes’ letter here.
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