REPORT: As Covid-19 spreads shortages of staple drugs may worsen

As Covid-19 intensifies, shortages of staple drugs may grow worse A new report finds there may be sustained shortages of medicines needed to combat Covid-19 and other conditions. Ed Silverman STAT

Across the U.S. and Europe, 29 out of 40 drugs used to combat the coronavirus are currently in short supply. And those shortages are expected to grow even worse as the number of Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations surge in the coming winter months, according to a new report by the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.

Moreover, the problem is likely to be exacerbated by the vagaries of the global pharmaceutical supply chain, which is heavily dependent on China for active pharmaceutical ingredients and on manufacturers based in India. As of now, 43% — or 67 of 156 — of acute care medicines used to treat various illnesses are running low. This group includes such staples as antibiotics, blood thinners, and sedatives.

“The supply chain has already been stressed over the past few years, but as we go through the fall and into the winter, we’re going to have some real challenges” thanks to Covid-19, said Michael Osterholm, director of CIDRAP and co-principal investigator of the center’s Resilient Drug Supply Project.

Indeed, the pandemic has exposed many of the vulnerabilities in the U.S. drug supply chain, according to the report. “Covid-19 tends to strike hard in a discrete geographic area, and when it creates a new hot spot, the hospitals in that area usually see a dramatic spike in admissions and ventilator use,” the researchers wrote.

As examples, they foresee the possibility of a five-fold jump in demand for midazolam, a commonly used sedative, and a 10-fold increase in the use of a muscle relaxant known as cisatracurium. There were ongoing shortages of such medicines in the spring as the number of Covid-10 cases in the New York area skyrocketed.

Over the next several months, though, such shortages could easily grow if there is a surge in multiple parts of the country around the same time, a scenario that has started to play out. ..