ASA Lobbies Senate Bill to Address Anesthetic Shortage

In the midst of a shortage on anesthetic drugs, the American Society of Anesthesiologists is asking the Senate to include specific language in the shortage provisions of the FDA's Safety and Innovation Act.

Specifically, ASA successfully lobbied the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions to include language in the bill that would require manufacturers to notify the FDA when there is a shortage of a "sterile injectable product" or a drug "used in emergency medical care or during surgery."  

Anesthetic and central nervous system drugs now account for 23 percent of drug shortages nationwide.

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