Drug shortages in the United States: a critical evaluation of root causes and the need for action.

Every day it is easy to find news articles detailing the impact of drug shortages on patients. Where this was once only a concern of patients with rare, orphan diseases, it is now the concern of patients receiving even the most common chemotherapeutic regimens, the most efficacious antimicrobial therapy, or even the most rapid-acting analgesics, largely as a result of manufacturing quality problems. Unfortunately for many of these patients, there are no efficacious alternatives.