Critical Drug Shortage in the U.S.

Post Reply New Topic

The recent hurricanes in the U.S. produced a critical shortage in a critical drug. IV Fluids.

Mark Hahn and I dove into a critical issue: the drug shortages caused by Hurricanes Helene and Milton. Helene, in particular, inflicted severe damage on a major North Carolina major IV fluids production plant, leaving hospitals to scramble with orally-administered alternatives like Pedialyte and Gatorade in non-critical cases—a stark reminder of the fragility of our medical supply chains.

Hurricane Helene and Drug Shortages

hmm....heard about gatorade being good to use to help replenish electrolytes, but seriously the bad stuff in it outweighs
its benefits ..There are much better powdered electrolyte powders ( to be made into solutions) than Gatorade.
Prolly Gatorade is/ was cheaper .
But this problem in our medical supply chains , for the common people has bever been addressed in my memory in this country..

According to one account from the Australian Government.

We are aware of shortages of multiple intravenous (IV) fluid products from all three Australian suppliers (Baxter Healthcare, B. Braun and Fresenius Kabi).

IV fluids are essential medicines used in hospitals for routine and critical care. They are crucial for fluid replacement, resuscitation and administering other medications directly into the bloodstream. The shortage is particularly affecting multiple bag sizes of Sodium Chloride 0.9% (saline) and Compound Sodium Lactate (Hartmann’s solution) products.

The shortages are due to multiple factors, including global supply limitations, unexpected increases in demand and manufacturing issues.

To improve supply, we have approved multiple overseas-registered alternative saline fluids under section 19A of the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989. We are continuing to prioritise evaluation of additional applications submitted under section 19A. Please see further information below or visit our Section 19A approvals database for up-to-date information about the alternative products (search by the active ingredient, ‘0.9% Sodium Chloride’).

We continue to collaborate with jurisdiction health departments and suppliers of Australian-registered IV fluid products to monitor the situation and address any regulatory barriers to supply.

Suppliers have advised us that supply will continue to be constrained into 2025.

Source: About the shortage of intravenous (IV) fluids

Just thinking outside the Box , but if you dissolve Salt into some distilled water . Does that become a Saline type of Fluid ?.??

Yes, it does make saline solution. If it is going to be put inside a body, there are a few more requirements though. The container (and handled instruments) for the solution must be sterilized before the solution can be prepared in it. Otherwise bacteria can be introduced into the solution. Also, the concentration of sodium chloride must be exact. Too little/much sodium chloride in the solution will lead to blood cell death. (One swells the cells until it explodes while the other shrivels them to a non-usable state.). I often hear complains from pre-med/nursing students about why they need to learn chemistry. The above is but one example I give them.

Side note: Saline solutions used for topical (skin) usage do not need the sodium chloride concentration to be so exact. Skin cells act differently than blood cells in that manner.

TYVM ..... It might appear if you can manage sterilization and configuring the appropriate quatities of Sodium Chloride.
Than perhaps these businesses mght be up and running soon , I hope.

It is a bit more complicated than just that. When they make a batch, it needs to be tested and retested before it can be released medically. I do not know of their testing instruments were damaged or not. If so, that is an added expense and time needed to replace them.

It's not as if Americans can afford it anyway. Sucks to be them.

QuantumChemist, thanks for providing expert details to this discussion.

Thank you for posting about the issue. It is a real world example of how chemical knowledge can affect society. Chemicals tend to get a bad report when in the news, but all depends on how they are used/abused.