INTRODUCTION For more than a decade, drug shortages have made headlines. Shortages also have forced P&T committees in many hospitals and health care delivery organizations to make contingency plans for providing safe and effective therapies when conventional and preferred drugs are not available. An article published in P&T in 2011 described several concerns associated with drug shortages and s...

ciation is negotiating with drug manufacturers, hospital pharmacists and the Canadian Medical Association to create a national reporting system that would track drug shortages. “We still have a long way to go, but the discussions have started,” says Jeff Morrison, director of government relations and public affairs for the Canadian Pharmacists Association. Recent shortages of cancer drugs such ...