Drug shortages still plague health care supply chain — Medically Necessary

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On the second episode of Medically Necessary, reporter Matt Blois talks to Dr. Hui Zhao, a researcher at Penn State University whose work has focused on pharmaceutical supply chains.

Zhao has studied that topic for over a decade and started examining the causes of drug shortages in 2011. Right now, the Food and Drug Administration lists more than 100 drugs that are considered in short supply. Drug shortages peaked around 2011, but numbers have started to decline a bit since then.

Once the COVID-19 pandemic began, government lockdowns reduced production and supply. At the same time, patients streamed into emergency rooms and demand for some drugs skyrocketed.

Zhao explains the fundamental reasons behind drug shortages, how the coronavirus pandemic affected drug shortages and what needs to be done to fix the problem. 

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Kaylee Nix

Kaylee Nix is a meteorologist and reporter for FreightWaves. She joined the company in November of 2020 after spending two years as a broadcast meteorologist for a local television channel in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Kaylee graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 2018 and immediately made the Tennessee Valley her home. Kaylee creates written summaries of FreightWaves live podcasts and cultivates the social media for FreightWaves TV.