Impact of Drug Supply Chain Issues on Shortages in the U.S. and Canada

According to an article from CIDRAP, drug supply chain disruptions led to considerable shortages in the U.S. more often than in Canada from 2017 to 2021. A study was published on Oct. 31 in JAMA on the findings.

The article said, “A University of Toronto–led research team used the IQVIA Multinational Integrated Data Analysis database to identify drug supply chain problems and shortages less than 6 months apart in the United States and Canada from 2017 to 2021. The IQVIA database contains information on 89% of US and 100% of Canadian drug purchases”

Further, “A shortage was defined as a decrease of at least 33% in monthly purchased standardized drug units within 1 year, relative to those in the 6 months before the report of supply chain issues to a US or Canadian reporting system.”

“A total of 104 drug supply chain issues occurred in both countries, and within 1 year, 49.0% (95% confidence interval [CI], 39.3% to 59.7%) were tied to significant drug shortages in the United States, compared with 34.0% (95% CI, 25.0% to 45.0%) in Canada (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 0.53; 95% CI, 0.36 to 0.79),” the article added.

The results aim to assist in ongoing policy development and indicates the need for international cooperation.

"Drug-related reports of supply chain issues were 40% less likely to result in meaningful drug shortages in Canada compared with the US," the study authors wrote. "These findings inform ongoing policy development and highlight the need for international cooperation between countries to curb the effects of drug shortages and improve the resiliency of the supply chain for drugs."