Senate Committee Releases Report on Widespread Drug Shortages

The Democrat-led Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs released a report Wednesday assessing nation-wide shortages of critical medications, determining drug shortages to be a threat to national security.

Key Quotes: The report stated that “shortages continue to have devastating consequences for patients and health care providers, including medication errors and treatment delays, and in some cases, have led to doctors having to ration lifesaving treatments.” The report called on Congress and the pharmaceutical industry to “work together to respond to this decades-long problem.” It also called for increased transparency between the government and pharmaceutical companies, calling on Congress to “require manufacturers to report when they experience an increase in demand or export restriction.”

Details: The report stated that drug shortages increased 30% from 2021 to 2022, with 295 drugs in short supply at one point in 2022. The report assessed potential causes of the shortages, determining that an overreliance on foreign imports of pharmaceutical ingredients from countries such as India and China paired with ongoing supply chain disruptions stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic have exacerbated the shortages. The report called for additional research and analysis to better understand how to mitigate drug shortages, as well as increased public and private domestic investment in pharmaceutical production to decrease America’s reliance on medical imports.

How The Media Covered It: Left- and center-rated outlets covered the report mildly, while right-rated outlets ignored it. Right-rated outlets have previously covered drug shortages, with Fox News publishing an article on shortages earlier this month.