Newswise — Jack Muckstadt, a professor of Engineering and the former director of Cornell University’s School of Operations Research and Industrial Engineering, is an expert on manufacturing systems, manufacturing logistics, supply chain systems, and manufacturing system design and analysis. He comments on reports that chronic shortages of key drugs to treat cancer, pediatric illnesses and other ailments are driving up health care costs and compromising patient care.
Muckstadt says:
“Shortages of key pharmaceuticals will remain for the foreseeable future.
“There are several reasons for these shortages. For example, there will always be production problems for some items. Since there is often only one supplier for a drug, any slight degradation of the manufacturing process will likely lead to shortages. Since many of these drugs are used in relatively low volumes, and correspondingly the manufacturing capacity is also low, shortages will occur periodically with certainty.
“Simply put, there are no financial incentives for increasing capacity within or between manufacturers.”
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