FDA launches drug shortage app

The FDA has introduced its first mobile application aimed at expediting updates to the public about drug shortages, the agency announced in a press release.

The application (app) is designed to identify current drug shortages, inform the public of resolved shortages and announce drug discontinuations.

“The FDA understands that health care professionals and pharmacists need real-time information about drug shortages to make treatment decisions,” Capt. Valerie Jensen, RPh, associate director of the Drug Shortage Staff at the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said in a press release. “The new mobile app is an innovative tool that will offer easier and faster access to important drug shortage information.”

Jensen told Infectious Disease News that the app is available to physicians, pharmacists, drug companies and consumers.

"It really is for the public," she said. "We think our main users, just based on who we hear from the most, will be pharmacists, physicians and physicians' groups, but we do know our patients look at our website. There will sometimes be medications that they won't be able to get at the pharmacy, so they can look it up on the mobile app or on our website."

The app was developed as an extension of the changes the FDA has made to its drug shortage website, which now features a searchable database. Users of the site and the new app can look up a drug based on its generic name, active ingredient or therapeutic category, Jensen said.

"On the FDA shortage website, you will now see a database of drugs that are in short supply — that database is helpful because anyone can look up the name of a drug," she said. "You can also look up a drug by therapeutic category, which is something physicians really like. Physicians in practice want to be able to search for the specific drugs that affect their practice. The mobile app is a way to make all of this more accessible."

Members of the public and health care providers can also use the app to report a suspected drug shortage or supply problem to the FDA.

"The app and the site both have the reporting feature, where users can call or email, and that information goes straight into our drug shortage account," Jensen said. "Our drug shortage account is routinely monitored and routinely responded to. We take every report seriously."

In addition, drug companies can use the app to report potential shortages, enabling them to comply with the 2012 Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act (FDASIA).

"Due to the FDASIA legislation, companies are now required to report to us when there is a disruption in supply, so they can use the app as well. They can call or email us," Jensen said. "This is just one more way to improve the reporting process."

Drug shortages can not only delay or prevent necessary care for patients, but may also lead health care providers to depend on less effective or higher-risk alternatives.

"One example of that would be anesthesia-related drugs," Jensen said. "We had a shortage of propofol, an anesthetic very widely used in all kinds of surgery. During the shortage, anesthesiologists had to turn to other kinds of anesthetics. While there are others that can be used, the safety profile is not the same, and sometimes anesthesiologists weren't used to using the others, and that also adds some risk. So we looked at that shortage, and we had to do everything we could to help the companies resolve it."

The app was developed as part of the FDA’s Strategic Plan for Preventing and Mitigating Drug Shortages. It is available for free download through iTunes for Apple and the Google Play Store for Android devices by searching “FDA Drug Shortages.”