According to Bruce Bostrom, MD, of Children’s Hospitals of Minnesota, drug shortages generally affect inexpensive generic drugs that have been available for a long time. Because these drugs are only manufactured by a few companies, one plant stopping production can have a drastic affect on the healthcare industry.
If a plant has manufacturing problems, as several drug companies have experienced in the last few years, it takes a long time to get the plant up and running again. If another company makes the drug, they have only a limited ability to fill the supply gap. The raw materials for drugs are also in short supply, a problem for the FDA since many of the materials come from outside the U.S.
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