Interesting article about drug shortages and compound medications can be found at DWINDLING DROP BY DROP, Manufacturing lapses and changes in the generic-drug industry have cut off supply of some key medicines, threatening the health of thousands of patients, 12:01 a.m.July 24, 2013Updated4:54 p.m.July 23, 2013 After discussing a number of problems relating to the shortages, this articles indicates some of the problems with using compounded drugs to fill the shortages:
Medication errors have risen because practitioners are substituting unfamiliar drugs, formulations and concentrations. Lethal overdoses of a narcotic painkiller, adrenaline and a blood thinner have occurred, ISMP’s most recent survey in 2010 found.
Costs have soared and product quality has suffered with the emergence of a “gray market,” Cohen said. Shady vendors buy injectable drugs, often from “compounding” pharmacies, then resell the drugs at big markups. Compounding pharmacies, which are largely unregulated, can legally make only custom-order prescriptions, but some have become de facto factories to fill the shortage gap.
Their record has been spotty. In 2012, 48 people died and more than 700 were sickened by fungal meningitis linked to spinal injections of steroids made by the New England Compounding Center in Framingham, Mass.
We know for a fact that some of these compounding pharmacies have become de facto factories or manufacturers and unregulated by anyone--neither the state nor the federal government-has had a handle on this in the past. So maybe it is time for federal legislation to be passed.
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