Mar 3, 2023
FEATURED STORY
Cost of China-made drug ingredients more than doubled during pandemic
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, prices of some active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) exported from China have more than doubled, The Times of India reports.
Chinese export of the affected APIs, including those for important oral and injectable antibiotics, over-the-counter pain- and fever-reducing medications, and the diabetes drug metformin, has been complicated by pandemic-related supply-chain chaos and, more recently, the lifting of the country's zero-COVID policy.
India is nearly 100% dependent on China for these APIs, increasing the cost of making high-volume drugs such as azithromycin, amoxicillin, and rifampicin. In turn, India supplies over 20% (by value) of the world's generic drugs and is the leading manufacturer of vaccines. Read the full story
US Pharma Supply Chain
The albuterol shortage is about to get worse (Washington Post, Mar 1) [link]
US drugmaker closes shop: 'Now we wait for worsened shortages' (Becker's Hospital Review, Feb 23) [link]
Progressives call on FDA to take further action on cold and flu medicines shortage (The Hill, Feb 23) [link]
Eli Lilly says shortage is over for diabetes drug that drew weight-loss interest (Bloomberg, Feb 21) [link]
Adderall shortage forces some patients to scramble, ration or go without (NPR, Feb 18) [link]
Over-the-counter Narcan gets unanimous thumbs-up from FDA advisors (Endpoints News, Feb 15) [link]
Global Pharma Supply Chain
Draft bottleneck bill must go further, urges German generics body (Generics Bulletin, Feb 24) (subscription) [link]
German health ministry confronts drug shortage (DW, Feb 18) [link]
Editorial: Where are the drugs? The scarcity of medications in the Western Pacific (The Lancet Regional Health, Feb 27) [link]
Dr. Reddy's bolsters US generics business with $105M deal to buy Mayne Pharma assets (Fierce Pharma, Feb 27) [link]
Pakistan hospitals facing shortage of crucial drugs like insulin, doctors postponing surgeries (Economic Times, Feb 26) [link]
Counterfeit drugs: A major public health threat (Times of India, Feb 24) [link]
Applications to the 24th WHO Expert Committee on selection and use of essential medicines published for public review and comments (WHO, Feb 10) [link]
Drug Quality, Recalls, and Plant Shutdowns
Amneal injectables plant slapped by FDA for sanitary issues, improper working conditions (Fierce Pharma, Feb 28) [link]
California OTC drugmaker rapped for lacking written procedures (FDA News, Feb 28) (subscription) [link]
FDA raps API facility in Nebraska for microbial contamination (FDA News, Feb 27) (subscription) [link]
FDA widens advisory on eye products after patients blinded, hospitalized (The Hill, Feb 22) [link]
More from RDSP
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Disclaimer: The news articles listed here are not meant to be an endorsement by RDSP or CIDRAP.
