Matej Mikulic
Research expert covering health, pharma & medtech
Drug shortages - Statistics & Facts
Globally, there are dozens of definitions of what constitutes a drug shortage. According to the most important national drug regulation authority worldwide, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), a drug shortage is "a period of time when the demand or projected demand for a drug (within the U.S.) exceeds its supply." Although one could think that drug shortages are probably an issue of poorer and developing countries, they are also a substantial, and quite common, problem in developed countries. Drug shortages can have serious repercussions. First, for patients, for example through changes in treatment, inferior treatment, delayed treatment as well as denied treatment, prolonged hospital stays, and even death can occur as a worst-case scenario. Furthermore, drug shortages mostly result in additional costs for various stakeholders, especially for patients.
