Drug shortages: searching for a cure

Area of Science:

• Pharmaceutical policy
• Health economics
• Drug supply chain management

Background:

• Recent headlines highlight significant shortages of prescription generic drugs in Canada and internationally.
• The underlying causes and effective solutions for these widespread drug shortages remain inadequately understood.
• Existing market-based mechanisms have proven insufficient in preventing these critical supply disruptions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To critically examine the causes and consequences of current generic drug shortages.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of market forces in ensuring an adequate supply of essential medicines.
• To explore the feasibility and potential benefits of establishing a Crown corporation for drug supply.

Main Methods:

• Policy analysis of current drug procurement and distribution systems.
• Review of economic principles related to pharmaceutical markets.
• Case study analysis of drug shortage events and their impact.

Main Results:

• Market forces have demonstrably failed to prevent or resolve widespread generic drug shortages.
• The complexity of the pharmaceutical supply chain presents significant challenges to ensuring consistent availability.
• A Crown corporation could offer a centralized, public-interest-driven approach to managing essential drug supplies.

Conclusions:

• The persistent failure of market forces necessitates exploring alternative models for ensuring drug security.
• Establishing a Crown corporation is a viable policy option to guarantee the supply of essential prescription generic drugs.
• Proactive public management is required to address systemic issues leading to drug shortages.