USA TODAY: …Certain cancer drugs were in such short supply in 2011 that patients were going without, taking untested medications and were subjected to prescription errors because of changes in routine, finds a survey of health professionals published today…
Although some say availability has improved over the last 18 months, Theriault says he still has to do without crucial drugs sometimes and try “to come up with an alternative that may or may not be as effective.”…
The shortages are the result of a variety of factors, Hoffman says, from sloppy manufacturing practices flagged by federal investigators, to the economics of the drug industry. The medications still in shortest supply, he said, are generic, sterile injectable drugs, including multivitamins… (more)
