Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, US Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, Maryland, USA.
Clin Pharmacol Ther. 2013 Mar;93(3):245-51. doi: 10.1038/clpt.2012.235. Epub 2012 Dec 6.
Shortages of pharmaceutical drugs pose a serious and growing threat to public health. Although the number of drugs in shortage in the United States in any given year is very small, the number of prescription drug shortages in the country nearly tripled between 2005 and 2010. Drug shortages are becoming more severe as well as more frequent. The affected medicines include cancer treatments, anesthesia drugs, and other drugs that are critical to the treatment and prevention of serious diseases and life-threatening conditions. (The White House, Office of the Press Secretary, Executive Order 13588-Reducing Prescription Drug Shortages (http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/10/31/executive-order-reducing-prescription-drug-shortages)).
药品短缺对公众健康构成严重且日益严重的威胁。尽管美国每年出现短缺的药品数量非常少，但 2005 年至 2010 年期间，该国的处方药短缺数量几乎增加了两倍。药品短缺的情况变得更加严重且更加频繁。受影响的药物包括癌症治疗药物、麻醉药物以及其他对严重疾病和危及生命的疾病的治疗和预防至关重要的药物。（白宫，新闻秘书办公室，行政命令 13588-减少处方药短缺（http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/10/31/executive-order-reducing-prescription-drug-shortages））
