On Monday, President Obama signed an executive order directing FDA to take steps to curtail prescription drug shortages. Highlighting the potential serious and growing threat to public health, the order focuses on getting manufacturers to provide FDA advance notice of shortages, accelerating FDA regulatory reviews for drugs that can help with existing or potential shortages, and requiring FDA to report drug stockpiling or price gouging related to shortages to the Department of Justice for possible prosecution.

APhA is very concerned about drug shortages and their effects on patients. APhA supports both FDA's work on addressing drug shortages as well as the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists' (ASHP) efforts in leading pharmacy on this issue. Additional information on drug shortages is available on FDA's and ASHP's websites. For more information, read these articles on APhA’s pharmacist.com:

• Obama executive order addresses shortages
• Drug shortages bill considered by Congress

Trustee Dan Buffington of Tampa was interviewed on local television about the shortage issue as part of the ABC affiliate's coverage of the presidential order. In the segment, Dan provided a broad overview of the shortage problem, and Brian Coleman, pharmacy buyer at Florida Hospital Tampa Bay Division, told viewers about the impact of the shortage on patients at his facility.

My thanks to APhA staff member Diana Yap for actively monitoring the release of this information and Tiffany Bridge for live-tweeting as HHS Secretary Sebelius, FDA Commissioner Hamburg, patient Jay Cuetara of San Francisco, and pharmacist Bonnie Frawley of Boston were speaking in advance of signing of the executive order.