Hospira Working With Urgency To Help Address Methotrexate Shortage

Hospira said Tuesday that the company shares the concerns of patients and customers about the shortage of cancer drug methotrexate. It is important to note that Hospira has never stopped manufacturing methotrexate; in fact, Hospira increased production of the drug to make up for the supply gap that occurred when another supplier faced production challenges in the second half of 2011.

Hospira is doing everything it can to help bring more product to market. This includes working with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to qualify a second supplier of the drug's active ingredient to enable increased production. Hospira believes that it can increase its supply to the market if it can secure additional methotrexate active ingredient supply.

Hospira's Approach to Supply Shortages
Drug shortages have been an industry-wide issue over the last two years, and Hospira is investing hundreds of millions of dollars and taking action to address shortages by increasing capacity at existing facilities, building additional capacity and improving its manufacturing plants.

Hospira supports President Obama's order to broaden reporting of potential shortages. Last year, Hospira was the first pharmaceutical company to publicly state its support of legislation that would make such reporting mandatory and impose penalties for failure to report.

SOURCE: Hospira