IV Form of Potential Covid-19 Drug in Short Supply, FDA Says

A version of the low-cost, widely used anti-inflammatory drug that’s showing promise as a Covid-19 treatment is now on the FDA’s drug shortage list.

The Food and Drug Administration Thursday updated its list to include an intravenous form of dexamethasone, which has been back-ordered and is in short supply due to a spike in demand, according to the agency’s website.

The results of a trial by the University of Oxford, released June 16, found that the generic steroid dexamethasone reduced deaths by one-third in patients on ventilators and by one-fifth in patients getting oxygen only. That trial included more than 11,500 coronavirus patients from hospitals across the U.K.

Patients either took dexamethasone by mouth or injection for the trial.

It’s not clear if the shortage is directly related to the Oxford study and the resulting rush to buy the product. The FDA directed questions on the timing of the shortage to a producer of the drug, Auro Medics Pharma, which didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The FDA defines a drug shortage as a situation where “the total supply of all versions of the approved product available at the user level will not meet the current demand.”

Generic drugs in shortage traditionally have a higher risk of price spikes compared with widely available generics. That could make access to dexamethasone more difficult for cash-strapped providers.