Monday, President Obama, in an effort to circumvent Congress's foot-dragging, issued an executive order aimed at quickly resolving the growing shortage of critical life-saving drugs in the US.
The order is intended to empower the FDA to make manufacturers report potential shortages of these drugs in a more timely way. The FDA will in turn be required to speed up their review of applications from alternate manufacturers who can pick up the slack. At the present time only 7 companies manufacture most of these drugs.
With this order, FDA will also have to let the Justice Department know if there is suspected price gouging or collusion in the marketplace. There have been many instances of wholesalers increasing prices by as much as 650 percent during shrotages.
A Wall Street Journal editorial, while calling the situation "a national disgrace", blamed Medicare for distorting prices and blasted the President for not doing more to address the shortage of cancer drugs. The Journal's recommended solution is to decrease FDA regulations - in spite of the fact that nearly half of the shortages have been related to serious quality issues including "sterile" IV agents found to contain fungal and bacterial materials as well as metal and glass. The WSJ argues that regulation keeps production down. In addition the Journal would like to see prices increased further as a means to incentivize production.
Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sibelius, tried to plead the administration's case for urgency in the Washington Post.
On NPR, several physicians discussed the fact that an increasing number of oncologists and hospital based doctors are finding it more and more difficult to locate alternative chemotherapy drugs and antibiotics. Anesthesiologists, they say, are being forced to use agents they never used before. And even these options are becoming less possible. They agree that the situation is critical and appalud the President's executive order - even if it is just a way to push Congress to pass legislation that has been sitting in Congress for months without a vote.
For further bakcground on the issue, read this article in Examiner.com
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