A mobile app that provides up-to-date information on drug shortages has been launched by the Food and Drug Administration, the agency has announced.
The mobile application is “specifically designed to speed public access to valuable information about drug shortages,” namely, current and resolved drug shortages and discontinuations of drug shortages, according to the FDA statement. Clinicians and others can search by a drug’s generic name, active ingredient, or therapeutic category, and also can use the app to report a drug shortage or a supply issue to the FDA.
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The app “is an innovative tool that will offer easier and faster access to important drug shortage information,” Capt. Valerie Jensen, R.Ph., associate director of the drug shortages program in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said in the statement. “The FDA understands that health care professionals and pharmacists need real-time information about drug shortages to make treatment decisions,” she added.
The app is free and can be downloaded via iTunes for Apple devices and the Google Play store for Android devices, searching for “FDA Drug Shortages.”
More information on drug shortages is available on the FDA’s web site at http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/drugshortages/default.cfm.