|
Cummings and other members of Congress have been investigating dozens of wholesalers, looking at where they purchase drugs in short supply and what they pay. The majority of pedigrees the investigators have examined indicate wholesalers are snapping up drugs from pharmacies, then offering them to hospitals at big markups. In a few cases, people appear to have set up sham pharmacies just to buy scarce drugs and then re-sell them at a big profit. Cummings and Sen. John D. Rockefeller, chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, aim to report on the investigation this summer. A Commerce Committee spokesman said Rockefeller has yet to decide whether to introduce a Senate version of the Cummings bill. A funding bill for the Food and Drug Administration, set for votes by the full House and Senate in the next couple weeks, includes some provisions aimed at easing other aspects of the shortages. A Cummings staff member said it's possible some of his bill could get incorporated in the funding bill. Meanwhile, increased efforts by the FDA to get manufacturers to notify it of impending shortages have been paying off; reports of new shortages have fallen significantly this year. There are now shortages of 280 drugs, including 78 new shortages reported between January and mid-May, according to Erin R. Fox, manager of the University of Utah Drug Information Service, which tracks national drug shortages. Last year, there were 267 new shortages reported, adding to a couple hundred shortages persisting from earlier years.
[Associated
Press;
Copyright 2012 The Associated
Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
News | Sports | Business | Rural Review | Teaching & Learning | Home and Family | Tourism | Obituaries
Community |
Perspectives
|
Law & Courts |
Leisure Time
|
Spiritual Life |
Health & Fitness |
Teen Scene
Calendar
|
Letters to the Editor