Coming up short

An Ottawa Citizen editorial: Canadians spend billions of dollars every year on drugs that keep them alive and well. Doctors rely on them to do their work and without them, hospitals cannot treat patients.

Without a readily available supply of drugs, Canada’s health-care system does not function. Looming drug shortages are a serious threat to the health of Canadians and require a nationally co-ordinated response.

The most recent shortage came this month after Quebec-based manufacturer Sandoz cut production of crucial injectable drugs such as morphine, hydromorphone and fentanyl while it upgraded its facility to satisfy the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The situation was complicated by a fire which has closed the plant for at least a week.

The shortage has left doctors scrambling to find replacement drugs for their surgical and cancer patients. This is very worrisome, especially since this is not the first serious drug shortage to hit Canadians, nor is it likely to be the last.

There are various explanations for drug shortages that have cropped up in Canada and the U.S. recently — from increased demand without increased production, to a just-in-time system that has no built-in safety net, to supply problems with raw materials.

There have been suggestions that breaks in the supply chain are the result of companies choosing to manufacture more profitable drugs, which is a company’s prerogative.

But part of having an effective monopoly on the manufacture of a particular drug for parts of the Canadian market should include guarantees that the medication continues to be available. It is up to government and health officials negotiating with drug companies to get those guarantees.

Health ministers conferred by phone on Thursday. That’s a start, but provincial, territorial and federal health officials need to hammer out some longer-term solutions. For starters, the federal government should require drug companies to report shortages as soon as they become aware of them.