Published Paper Details:

Drug shortages are emerging as a serious challenge to the global healthcare delivery system, irrespective of economic jurisdictions. This review provides an insight into the current scenario of drug shortages in a global perspective, with prominent focus on affected therapeutic classes and major factors that contribute to drug shortages, such as failure in manufacturing quality, lack of raw materials, economics, and inefficient regulatory policies. The effects of drug shortages, in terms of patient safety, economics, and human aspects, especially in low- and middle-income countries, are described, and their need and importance in different settings are emphasized. This review particularly focuses on regulatory affairs concerning drug shortages, and it describes how regulatory policies in jurisdictions need to allow transparency and focus on strategies to counter drug shortages due to their significant impact in health access and delivery worldwide.