Adverse Drug Reaction-Related to Drug Shortage: A Retrospective Study on the French National Pharmacovigilance Database

International audienceAIM: Drug shortage is a growing global health issue. The aim of the study was to evaluate the consequences of drug shortages on patient safety based on data recorded in the French Pharmacovigilance Database. METHODS: All cases involving drug shortages reported from 1985 to the end of 2019 were extracted from the database. RESULTS: Following the selection process, 462 cases were included. The number of cases increased significantly from 2004 to 2019. Cases mainly involved drugs from the nervous system (22.1%, CI95[17.5;27.0]), the cardiovascular system (16.4%, CI95[11.9;21.4]), and anti-infectives for systemic use (14.3%, CI95[9.7;19.2]) ATC classes. Most of the cases reported an adverse drug reaction (ADR) belonging to the SOC nervous system (21%, CI95[18;24]), skin and subcutaneous (14%, CI95[11;17]), general (13%, CI95[10;17]), and gastrointestinal (8%, CI95[5;11]) disorders. Disease worsening was observed in 15.9% of the cases, mostly related to a lack of efficacy of the replacement drug. Half of the cases were considered as serious. Evolution was favourable in 79.4% of the cases. Death and/or life-threatening situations were reported in 5.8% of the cases. Medication errors (ME) were identified in 51 cases (11%), mostly occurring at the administration step and involving a human factor. CONCLUSION: This study emphasises the clinical impact of drug shortage in terms of ADRs, ME and inefficiency. These observations underline the importance of a global health policy programme to limit the occurrence of drug shortages and to reinforce the information provided to patients and health care professionals in this context to limit risk