Here are the factors experts say are contributing to Canada's drug shortages
CTV
Experts say drug shortages have gradually worsened in Canada over the last decade, putting patients in difficult and sometimes dangerous positions. But potential solutions like rethinking where drug manufacturing is concentrated and expanding pharmacists' prescribing privileges could help ease those impacts.
In a few weeks, Lynda Millard will run out of a medication that has been critical to her digestive function since she had three feet of her small intestine removed in 2015.
Cholestyramine is used to treat high cholesterol and remove bile acids from the body. Most digestion and absorption of food takes place in the small intestine, and patients like Millard often suffer from a condition called bile acid diarrhea, which can severely impact quality of life and lead to dangerous vitamin and mineral imbalances. Cholestyramine helps manage this condition.
Unfortunately for Millard and patients like her, it's one of more than 1,800 drugs currently in shortage in Canada.
"I can no longer get this medication," 75-year-old Millard, told CTVNews.ca in an email. "Everywhere I have called I've been told it's back-ordered until 'some time in 2024.' My Doctor contacted a gastroenterologist and was told there is no substitute available as other brands have been discontinued."
Experts say the number—and length—of drug shortages has gradually increased in this country over the last decade or so, putting patients like Millard in difficult, and sometimes dangerous, positions. Potential solutions like rethinking where drug manufacturing is concentrated and expanding pharmacists' prescribing privileges could help ease the impacts on patients, they say.
In a follow-up interview with CTVNews.ca on Wednesday, Millard said her doctor advised that if she can't fill her prescription in Canada when her current supply of the drug runs out, she should travel to the United States to try and find some, or take "original Metamucil and then add some Imodium," and hope for the best.
"It's been extremely stressful the past couple of weeks while I searched for this stuff," she said. "I can't live without this stuff. I have to have it."
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