IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/aphecp/v15y2017i4d10.1007_s40258-016-0264-z.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Clinical, Economic and Policy Implications of Drug Shortages in the European Union

Author

Listed:
  • Elfi De Weerdt

    (KU Leuven)

  • Steven Simoens

    (KU Leuven)

  • Minne Casteels

    (KU Leuven)

  • Isabelle Huys

    (KU Leuven)

Abstract

Drug shortages are an international problem, which seems to worsen. In this paper, the clinical, economic and policy implications of drug shortages are discussed, based on data available for the EU. Research on the clinical impact is scarce. Most data describe that patients will experience more side effects or need to postpone their treatment. However, more detailed research such as case studies and the number of patients affected are lacking. Information on the economic impact is described as an estimation of the time spent by hospital pharmacies. Other stakeholders are also burdened: manufacturers loose part of their profit, patients may pay more for the alternative treatment and society pays for additional health-care costs. However, no data are available. Again more detailed and objective research is necessary to know where the problem is situated and how solutions can be proposed. Policy implications are also rather scarce. However, once more detailed and objective research has been conducted, policy changes will follow. All stakeholders should be involved in the discussions, prior to the implementation of policy measures.

Suggested Citation

  • Elfi De Weerdt & Steven Simoens & Minne Casteels & Isabelle Huys, 2017. "Clinical, Economic and Policy Implications of Drug Shortages in the European Union," Applied Health Economics and Health Policy, Springer, vol. 15(4), pages 441-445, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:aphecp:v:15:y:2017:i:4:d:10.1007_s40258-016-0264-z
    DOI: 10.1007/s40258-016-0264-z
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s40258-016-0264-z
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s40258-016-0264-z?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Vogler, Sabine, 2024. "Tackling medicine shortages during and after the COVID-19 pandemic: Compilation of governmental policy measures and developments in 38 countries," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    2. Vogler, Sabine & Fischer, Stefan, 2020. "How to address medicines shortages: Findings from a cross-sectional study of 24 countries," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 124(12), pages 1287-1296.
    3. András Fittler & Róbert György Vida & Valter Rádics & Lajos Botz, 2018. "A challenge for healthcare but just another opportunity for illegitimate online sellers: Dubious market of shortage oncology drugs," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(8), pages 1-17, August.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:aphecp:v:15:y:2017:i:4:d:10.1007_s40258-016-0264-z. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.