A nation-wide drug shortage hasn’t affected the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre yet, but it is possible the hospital’s pharmacy manager says.
Last month, Sandoz Canada announced it would be scaling back production of some drugs at its Quebec plant after the company wasn’t meeting U.S. Food and Drug Administration standards.
The company is the sole producer of injectable forms of drugs like morphine, hydromorphone and fentanyl in Canada. The announcement has led to some hospitals across the country threatening the cancellation of elective surgeries until another supplier can be secured.
Health Sciences Centre pharmacy manager Jeff Chan said that hasn’t happened locally, but that doesn’t mean it can’t happen.
With more than 800,000 surgeries across the country every day, a drug like morphine plays a major role in post-operative care he said.
“They’re absolutely critical,” Chan said. “You could just imagine what would happen if morphine wasn’t available.”
Larger hospitals tend to have what Chan calls a just-in-time inventory of medication because they tend to be closer to drug wholesalers. But a place like Thunder Bay needs to have a larger inventory which is why there hasn’t been as much of a shortage locally yet.
“If a back order situation like this occurs, they feel it a lot quicker than we do,” he said.
Chan said there is about a month’s supply of most drugs currently at the hospital. And while other drugs might be almost out, a supply is coming before the end of the week.
The hospital continues to monitor the situation and give oral medication instead of injections whenever possible.
Chan said the shortage issue is a complex one. When a drug patent expires, pharmaceutical companies will all jump to produce it. That drives prices down until it’s not worth the cost of production any longer.
“At some point the medications price will drop so low that all but the smallest or in some cases the largest companies will stop making it because they can no longer make any money on it,” he said.
That leads to a company like Sandoz having a monopoly on the production. And because of the global economy, Sandoz is actually owned by German giant Novartis AG, boardroom decisions are being made that have consequences for Canadian healthcare.
“Certainly we are concerned that huge decisions are being made in Germany that will affect Canadian citizens,” Chan said.
Regional purchasing organizations, which buy drugs for hospitals, are currently lobbying Health Canada to allow them to but the drugs outside of Canada in order to secure supplies. Chan said he has been told the shortage is expected to last up to 18 months.
