Drug shortages are emerging as a major public health threat. Grave concern has been expressed by the medical community and government officials, and the crisis has been highlighted in recent media stories. Nevertheless, little has been written to date in the legal literature about the drug shortage crisis, and this timely article begins to fill this gap. It provides a thorough analysis of the o...

The effectiveness of any drug supply systems in providing a trustworthy supply of essential drugs is a critical issue. To evaluate this effectiveness, it is necessary to watch over the status of the essential medicines in any country impartially and continuously. Some countries and also the World Health Organization (WHO) have codified a list of minimum medicines needed for a basic health care ...

In recent years, the U.S. health care system has been plagued by shortages of generic sterile injectable drugs. The shortage problem arose suddenly within a short period of time, and remained persistent afterwards. To gain insights into what may have led to this situation, we develop a model that incorporates key characteristics of the generic drug manufacturing industry, including random suppl...

INTRODUCTION Supply problems of drugs are an increasing and worldwide problem, also in Belgium. Hospital pharmacists try to manage drug supply problems to minimize the impact on patient care. This study aims to quantify in a detailed manner how much time employees of 17 Belgian hospital pharmacies spend on drug supply problems. METHODS During six months, employees of Belgian hospital pharmaci...