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Health experts have warned that an extended strike at ports along the East Coast and Gulf Coast could threaten patients’ access to vital medicines.
Susan Thomas, chief commercial officer at pharmacy benefits manager LucyRx, says most people underestimate the amount of medicines manufactured outside the United States.
According to Dr. Robert Glatter, a New York City-based emergency room physician, the reality is that “an impending strike could disrupt medical supplies and critical lifesaving supplies from other countries that U.S. hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers depend on.” There is a possibility that drug imports will be affected.” I was supposed to take care of the patient. ”
It could also limit the amount of life-saving medicines and surgical supplies the U.S. exports to other countries, Glatter said.
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International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA)The United States Maritime Alliance (USMX), which is negotiating on behalf of 45,000 longshoremen working at 30 U.S. ports, and the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX), which represents port employers, have announced that the wages in the new contract will be There continues to be an impasse over this issue.
The ILA warned that it was prepared to suspend operations if members did not sign new contracts by an October 1 deadline, with affected ports from Maine to Texas He warned that many sectors are in dire straits as roughly half of all transportation is handled in bulk. Imported product.
Aerial view of containers and cargo ships at the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro, California. (Photo by Qian Weizhong/VCG, Getty Images/Getty Images)
In the pharmaceutical industry, more than 91% of containerized imports and 69% of containerized exports of U.S. pharmaceuticals are handled at affected ports, according to Everstream Analytics.
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More than one in three containers exported from the United States carrying life-saving medicines leaves the Port of Norfolk, Virginia, and nearly 30 percent of containerized pharmaceutical imports enter the United States through the Port of Charleston, South Carolina, the company said. pointed out.
Dr. Pat Bass, managing partner at Varsity Healthcare Partners, told FOX Business that the strike could have a “dangerous” impact on access to medicines, as “the vast majority of medicines” are handled at ports. He said there is.
Bass said the strike comes at a time when many health care providers have moved to “just-in-time” supply models to cut costs. This means they have less medicine on hand.
A container ship is anchored at the Port of Miami in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Joe Radle/Getty Images/Getty Images)
“Manufacturers and wholesalers may store certain drugs for a month or more, but as they move closer to patient touchpoints, i.e. health care providers and retail pharmacies, the supplies they store are much more limited and It could take five to seven days,” Bass said.
To make matters worse, certain medicines or geographic regions already have limited access, and some medicines with inherently short shelf lives may be disproportionately affected. Additionally, certain large organizations may hold more inventory, which could limit access for other organizations, Bass said.
Patients who are worried about running out of medication at their pharmacy can start monitoring their inventory and order a 90-day supply if possible to reduce the potential impact, Thomas said.
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Another possibility is that patients may be able to talk to their doctors about starting alternative medications. However, that’s not always an option.
Dr. Tiffany Moon, an associate professor of anesthesiology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, cautioned that “there are many life-saving drugs that patients need without interruption or discontinuation.”
At Hermacy, you can see the fully automated pharmacy through glass. ((Photo by Andreas Arnold/Photo Alliance via Getty Images)/Getty Images)
The most important of these will be something like “chemotherapy, where people are given different drugs and chemotherapy cocktails for different types of cancer,” Moon said. “If they get off the system, it can throw off the entire chemotherapy cycle.”
For example, it would be “catastrophic” if someone had to stop taking an oral oncology drug because “the cancer may come back and remission may be lost.” Possibly, Thomas added.
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Dr. Moon said, for example, type 1 diabetics who cannot acquire insulin “can develop a potentially life-threatening condition called diabetic ketoacidosis.”
Image of medicines at Walgreens pharmacy. (Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images/Getty Images)
President Moon also pointed out that anti-rejection drugs are equally important. Patients “need these anti-rejection drugs to keep their bodies from rejecting the organ they’re receiving,” she says.
FOX Business’ Eric Revell contributed to this report.
