The drugs stop here: a public health framework to address the drug shortage crisis

Drug shortages are emerging as a major public health threat. Grave concern has been expressed by the medical community and government officials, and the crisis has been highlighted in recent media stories. Nevertheless, little has been written to date in the legal literature about the drug shortage crisis, and this timely article begins to fill this gap. It provides a thorough analysis of the origins and implications of the drug shortage problem and formulates a multi-layered approach to addressing it. The article argues that drug shortages result from a combination of market failures and regulatory constraints. It proposes a blend of legislative, regulatory, and private-sector interventions that should deter undesirable conduct on the part of manufacturers and provide appropriate incentives to combat the drug shortage phenomenon.