Government Has Proper Role in Ensuring Manufacture of Needed Drugs

Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Wesley J. Smith

President Obama has signed an executive order intended to promote sufficient supplies of neccessary, but unprofitable, medications–such as some chemotherapy drugs. That’s good. But from what I could read, the order does not get to the bottom-line cause of the problem.

From the ABC story:

Limited manufacturing, lagging production time, and lack of profits from these drugs contribute to the shortages. The production costs for some drugs can outweigh the money that companies can make from them, since many drugs now have cheaper generic alternatives. So manufacturers stop making the drugs…But while the FDA can oversee imports of drugs that are in short supply, it cannot regulate how much a company can make. In fact, manufacturers are not required to report shortages to the FDA. The amount of a drug made available within a hospital is set by an agreement between the hospital and the manufacturer.

the rest