STAT+: The shortage of many medicines in the U.S. remains a ‘systemic’ problem, a new analysis finds
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- U.S. Pharmacopeia reported that prescription drug shortages fell 23% last year, the lowest level since 2017.
- Average drug shortage duration rose to 5.3 years, exceeding the 4.3 years seen in 2024 and far above the two‑year average in 2019.
- Two‑thirds of out‑of‑stock medicines remained in short supply for more than three years.
- Thirty‑nine percent of medicines were unavailable for more than five years.
- Seventy‑five drugs in short supply spanned 130 therapeutic categories, showing the breadth of affected diseases and patient groups.
Why it matters: Patients with chronic conditions and the clinicians who treat them lose access to essential medicines, as shortages now linger for years rather than months. The data indicates that policy should move beyond counting shortages to fixing the underlying supply‑chain weaknesses that keep drugs out of pharmacies.
