COMMENTARY
Eli Y. Adashi MD, MS; Daniel P. O’Mahony MSLS; I. Glenn Cohen JD
Corresponding Author: Eli Y. Adashi, MD, MS; Brown University.
Email: eli_adashi@brown.edu
DOI: 10.3122/jabfm.2024.240327R2
Keywords: Access to Care, Health Policy, Medication Systems, Pharmaceutical Policy
Dates: Submitted: 09-03-2024; Revised: 02-07-2025; Accepted: 02-24-2025
Status: In production for ahead of print.
Medication shortages constitute an ongoing threat to patient care across the United States and affect nearly every aspect of healthcare. National drug shortages have been a recurring challenge of the U.S. health care system but were markedly aggravated during the SARS-Cov-2 pandemic. Federal executive and legislative efforts to bolster the resiliency of the pharmaceutical supply chain have thus far fallen short. This Commentary reviews the leading executive and legislative initiatives proposed during the 118 th Congress and the Biden administration to protect the national drug supply in the hope of avoiding future shortages. It will be up to the new (119th) Congress and presidential administration to take up this issue again and pursue remediation of the nation’s drug shortage problem. The health of the nation demands action by policy makers to mitigate drug shortages that give rise to discontinuity of care and thereby to a compromise of the national state of health.