What Is The Solution To Drug Shortages?

By Rob Wright, Chief Editor, Life Science Leader
Follow Me On Twitter @RfwrightLSL

When I interviewed David Meeker, M.D., CEO of Genzyme for the October 2012 cover feature article, the focus was on how the company was helping Sanofi to break free from the blockbuster model. However, during our conversation, Dr. Meeker shared that one of the most difficult lessons learned in his career was failing a patient community by not being able to provide an  adequate drug supply. This lesson involved Genzyme receiving FDA warning letters necessitating a shutdown of its Alston, MA, site in 2009. The result was a severe drug shortage for two life-sustaining rare-disease medications. When the article went live on the Life Science Leader digital edition, I tweeted about it. This resulted in one of my Twitter followers replying to the tweet — focusing not on the article but instead on Genzyme’s failure.