“COVID has been disruption. The underlying challenge is that we are running a formula that, in many cases, has very little data transparency and makes it very difficult to operate,” Griffin said. “We want to move from an attitude idea [that] this is motivated by COVID. Let’s get over this point and instead start thinking about big formula adjustments at the political level. “
The shortage of infant formula has the same key characteristics as the chronic shortage of drug sources in U. S. hospitals. A topic that Griffin and Ergun have been reading for 8 years. Both have an important product at the center; a limited number of brands and production sites; production quality problems; and, most importantly, the limited exchange of data between actors in the source chain.
And the COVID-19 pandemic can’t be blamed for the shortage of medicines in hospitals — it’s been going on for decades, Griffin said.
“When we contact MGH [Massachusetts General Hospital] every week, there’s a list of [rare] products that they talk about. It’s not just one or two,” said Ergun, who is a member of a committee at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine that is tasked with examining the protection and resilience of the medical supply chain in the United States.
“Since this is a public fitness good, it’s unexpected how little the public is aware of it,” Ergun said.
Lately there are more than a hundred short-source drugs on the U. S. Food and Drug Administration’s list. UU. La recent shortage of medicines that has drawn attention comes with a shortage of sterile saline solutions in 2017 and 2018 after Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico, where most of it was manufactured; and a shortage of heparin in 2019 due to African swine fever killing pigs in China.
Both medications are essential in the treatment of many patients. Shortages of sterile saline solutions have suspended many surgeries in the United States for months, Griffin said. The shortage of heparin, which is derived from red meat and slows blood clotting. -heart operations or blood transfusions, has forced hospitals such as MGH to decrease its use especially.
“I’m inspired by the other people who are on the front lines trying to deal with this,” Griffin said. “They are taking normal measures. And that’s why there’s no broader discussion about it, because they do a lot, still the formula they paint on is broken. “
Griffin said the time hospitals can continue drug shortages on their own is limited.
Ergun described drug supply chains as highly disorganized environments, the disruption of which can have many other consequences that are usually invisible to patients. Hospital prices rise because more is needed to manage shortages and buying substitutes can be more expensive.
“And who bears the burden of the cost? Is it the hospital, is it the insurance company, is it the patient?” said Griffon.
As hospitals scramble to choose drugs, look for select manufacturers, and try to manufacture materials in-house, a new shortage of synthetic drugs arises due to hoarding.
Some patients also revel in the negative effects after receiving a surrogate, Griffin said.
To make supply chains more resilient, able to cope with disruptions and avoid public harm, the government wants to implement sweeping reforms, adding to the adoption of policies that allow for the radical exchange of data within the chain of origin, Ergun and Griffin said.
A major challenge is that no one knows how threatening other supply chains are in terms of likelihood of shortages, even for a Band-Aid, Ergun said, because chains are so complex and involve multiple stages in multiple countries. In recent decades, concentrate has not yet been in threat in cost.
“As a world, we actually focus on saving load on both items,” Ergun said. in favor of the supplier or manufacturer at the lowest price. “
Resilience, however, comes at an additional cost, there is no need to make all supply chains permanently resilient.
“We want to perceive the threat first, and then we want to perceive the critical products, and then at the right point of resilience that we deserve to build in a supply chain,” Ergun said.
She and Griffin argue that the shortage of drug sources should be addressed by looking for redundancies at the source, correlated hazards between brands, old quality records, and the lack of available alternatives. With this information, the government can focus on enacting policies and regulations that align certain incentives for personal brands and public adequacy and protection priorities.
Alert systems shall also be put in position to measure and characterise the suitability of a source system. Manufacturers shall submit their own threat assessment and percentage data in their chain of origin with at least one public body.
Please indicate the appropriate maximum category to facilitate the processing of your application
Thank you for taking the time to provide your feedback to the editors.
Your opinion is for us. However, we do not guarantee individual responses due to the large volume of messages.