U.S. drug shortages reach record high, hitting Wegovy

[Pelican Press 0]

U.S. ***** shortages reach record high, hitting Wegovy

Boxes of Wegovy made by Novo Nordisk are seen at a pharmacy in London, Britain March 8, 2024. 

Hollie Adams | Reuters

Think a friend or colleague should be getting this newsletter? Share this link with them to sign up.

Good afternoon! ***** shortages in the U.S. are at

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

, leaving countless patients in limbo. 

A total of 323 drugs were in shortage in the first quarter of this year, up from the previous high of 320 in 2014, according to

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

published last week by the ********* Society of Health-System Pharmacists and the University of Utah ***** Information Service. That’s the most medicines since the groups began tracking shortages in 2001.

So, which drugs do the shortfalls affect?

Supplies are low for everything from lower doses of Novo Nordisk’s blockbuster weight loss *****

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

, certain doses of Eli Lilly’s popular

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

and weight loss counterpart Zepbound, to key ******* treatments and common antibiotics. Many of them are generic medications, which make up a

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

of Americans’ prescriptions.

“All ***** classes are vulnerable to shortages,” Paul Abramowitz, CEO of the ********* Society of Health-System Pharmacists, or ASHP, wrote in a

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

on Thursday.

But he said “some of the most worrying shortages involve generic sterile injectable medications, including ******* chemotherapy drugs and emergency medications stored in hospital ****** carts and procedural areas.” Ongoing scarcity of ADHD medications “also remain a serious challenge for clinicians and patients,” Abramowitz added. 

The ***** shortage database maintained by the two organizations is based on voluntary reports from practitioners, patients and others. The figures are confirmed with drugmakers. This list often includes more drugs than the number the Food and ***** Administration considers to be in shortage. 

It’s unclear how many patients are impacted by the current ***** shortages. But the average shortage from 2016 to 2020 affected at least half a million patients, many of whom are older adults, according to an

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

the Department of Health and Human Services shared with Congress in May. 

The shortages can create serious problems.

Margot Wood, an Oregon-based author of the book Fresh, said intermittent shortages of ADHD medications have disrupted her daily life for roughly a year and a half. Wood said she can generally function without the drugs, but noted that every task is “much more complicated and difficult” and “takes three times as long” to do. 

“I need them not just for work, but also for my relationships, being a mom, in my hobbies and things and just keeping up with my day-to-day life,” Wood told CNBC. 

While patients in some states can scour different pharmacies for the medication they need, Wood said there isn’t much she can do in Oregon. That’s because Oregon considers ADHD medications

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

, meaning Wood can only fill her prescription at her designated pharmacy. 

When her medication does go back in stock, Wood said she often rations her supply to prepare for potential shortages in the future. She added it is “frustrating” that the reason behind the shortages isn’t clear to patients and even some pharmacists. 

JB Reed | Bloomberg | Getty Images

So, what exactly is driving ***** shortages? And how can the issue be fixed? 

Around 60% of ***** manufacturers did not disclose the factors behind the scarcity of medications, according to the new data from ASHP and the University of Utah ***** Information Service. 

Some drugmakers said demand has outstripped supply, which has been the case with buzzy weight loss and diabetes medications. Others said manufacturing and quality problems, such as supply chain gaps, played a role. 

But the Biden administration has suggested a deeper issue may cause shortages, particularly of generic drugs.

In February, the Federal Trade Commission and HHS said they are examining the role that ***** wholesalers and companies that purchase medicines for U.S. health-care providers play in those shortages. The agencies will determine whether those middlemen have misused their market power to cut the prices of generic drugs to the point that manufacturers can’t profit and have to stop production, and rival suppliers are discouraged from competing in the generic ***** market. 

The Biden administration has taken other steps to tackle ***** shortages. Last week, HHS outlined

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

to help prevent supply deficiencies and mitigate vulnerabilities. 

That includes collaborations with drugmakers and hospitals that aim to make the ***** market more transparent and encourage companies to invest in resilient and diverse ***** supply chains.

Abramowitz on Thursday said some of the recommendations align with those of ASHP, but the organization has

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

about certain parts of the plan. He pointed to a proposal that could penalize hospitals that lack the resources to comply with the recommendations. 

“Much work ******** to be done at the federal level to fix the root causes of ***** shortages,” Abramowitz wrote.

Feel free to send any tips, suggestions, story ideas and data to Annika at

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

.

Latest in health-care technology

UnitedHealth reveals financial impact of Change Healthcare cyberattack

The corporate logo of the UnitedHealth Group appears on the side of one of their office buildings in Santa Ana, California, U.S., April 13, 2020. 

Mike Blake | Reuters

All eyes were on

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

UnitedHealth said its earnings took a 74 cents per share hit from the breach in the first quarter, and it expects the full-year impact to be between $1.15 and $1.35 per share.

“The core story at UnitedHealth Group ******** our colleagues delivering improved experiences for the people we serve and driving balanced growth even while swiftly and effectively addressing the ******* on Change Healthcare,” UnitedHealth CEO Andrew Witty said in a release.

UnitedHealth, which owns Change Healthcare, discovered that a cyber threat actor had breached part of the unit’s information technology systems in February. The company had to shut off the affected systems, temporarily leaving many doctors without a way to fill prescriptions or get paid for their services. Many are still contending with the fallout. 

Shares of UnitedHealth were up more than 5% as of 11 a.m. ET on Tuesday.

UnitedHealth’s Optum acquired Change Healthcare for $13 billion in 2022. The merger was controversial, as groups like the ********* Medical Association claimed the union could stifle competition. The Justice Department sued to block the acquisition that year, but the deal eventually went through.

In the company’s quarterly call with investors Tuesday, Witty said UnitedHealth’s ownership of Change Healthcare is “important for the country.” He said the ******* likely would have happened either way, but if UnitedHealth did not own the company, Change Healthcare would not have had the resources or support necessary to bring its systems back online. 

“We’re going to bring it back much stronger than it was before,” Witty said.

UnitedHealth CFO John Rex said during the call that the company’s insurance unit, UnitedHealthcare, is “pretty much back to normal in terms of claim submission activity” in the wake of the cyberattack. He said claims are flowing as expected.

It is still not clear exactly how the ******* happened, or what data was compromised. 

Feel free to send any tips, suggestions, story ideas and data to Ashley at

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

.

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

Biotech and Pharmaceuticals,Health care industry,UnitedHealth Group Inc,******* States,business news
#U.S #***** #shortages #reach #record #high #hitting #Wegovy

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

For verified travel tips and real support, visit: https://hopzone.eu/