Mary Wilson
Well-known member
By ED SILVERMAN @Pharmalot
JUNE 25, 2020
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After preliminary release of a study found that a cheap steroid reduced deaths by a third in hospitalized Covid-19 patients, hospitals across the U.S. saw a surge in demand for the drug, and there is a shortage of several injectable versions.
Specifically, hospital orders for dexamethasone, a commonly used and inexpensive corticosteroid, spiked 183% on June 16, when study researchers released top-line data that suggested the decades-old therapy could possibly improve the odds of survival in the sickest patients. The study was run by scientists at the University of Oxford in the U.K.
From June 16 through June 19, hospital demand jumped 610%. And the so-called fill rate — the rate at which orders were able to be filled and shipped to hospitals — plummeted from 97% to just 54% by June 19, according to Vizient, a group purchasing organization that negotiates contracts for medicines on behalf of about 3,000 hospitals and health care facilities in the U.S.
At least three manufacturers of the injectable version reported shortages as of Wednesday, according to the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, which regularly compiles information on drugs that are in short supply among hospitals across the U.S.
https://www.statnews.com/pharmalot/...m_source=twitter&utm_campaign=twitter_organic
JUNE 25, 2020
Reprints
After preliminary release of a study found that a cheap steroid reduced deaths by a third in hospitalized Covid-19 patients, hospitals across the U.S. saw a surge in demand for the drug, and there is a shortage of several injectable versions.
Specifically, hospital orders for dexamethasone, a commonly used and inexpensive corticosteroid, spiked 183% on June 16, when study researchers released top-line data that suggested the decades-old therapy could possibly improve the odds of survival in the sickest patients. The study was run by scientists at the University of Oxford in the U.K.
From June 16 through June 19, hospital demand jumped 610%. And the so-called fill rate — the rate at which orders were able to be filled and shipped to hospitals — plummeted from 97% to just 54% by June 19, according to Vizient, a group purchasing organization that negotiates contracts for medicines on behalf of about 3,000 hospitals and health care facilities in the U.S.
At least three manufacturers of the injectable version reported shortages as of Wednesday, according to the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, which regularly compiles information on drugs that are in short supply among hospitals across the U.S.
https://www.statnews.com/pharmalot/...m_source=twitter&utm_campaign=twitter_organic