Why FDA can’t dis­close the first coro­n­avirus-re­lat­ed drug short­age

Around 10 PM ET last night, the FDA said that it is aware of a drug short­age re­lat­ed to an ac­tive phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal in­gre­di­ent (API) man­u­fac­tur­er af­fect­ed by the coro­n­avirus, but the agency stopped short of re­veal­ing what drug it is.

“The short­age is due to an is­sue with man­u­fac­tur­ing of an ac­tive phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal in­gre­di­ent used in the drug. It is im­por­tant to note that there are oth­er al­ter­na­tives that can be used by pa­tients. We are work­ing with the man­u­fac­tur­er as well as oth­er man­u­fac­tur­ers to mit­i­gate the short­age. We will do every­thing pos­si­ble to mit­i­gate the short­age,” FDA Com­mis­sion­er Stephen Hahn said in a state­ment.

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