Drug shortage in Saudi Arabia was mostly common in drugs that are more
expensive outside Saudi Arabia: A retrospective database analysis
Abstract
Purpose: Studies suggested that drug pricing might be a risk
factor for drug shortage; however, a few provided a quantitative
assessment of this possible causal association. This study aimed to
assess whether drug prices are associated with drug shortage incidents.
Methods: This was a retrospective database analysis study.
Drugs with shortage notifications (one drug per notification) that were
sent to the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) from Jan/2017 to
Dec/2020 by different stakeholders were included in the study. For each
drug, the foreign-to-Saudi-price ratio (FTSPR) was calculated (FTSPR=
mean international price/Saudi price). Accordingly, drugs were split
into three groups: Group 1 (FTSPR >1]), Group 2 (FTSPR
=1]), and Group 3 (FTSPR <1]). The primary outcomes were
the ratio of mean counts (mCR) between the three groups with Group 3
chosen as a control group. The study outcomes were analyzed using a
negative binomial regression model adjusting for the measured
confounders. All study analyses were conducted using RSudio Version
1.2.5033. Results: A total of 900 drugs were included (Group
1=348, Group 2=345, Group 3=209). The mean count of Group 1 higher was
higher than Group 3 (mCR: 1.88; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.24
to 2.83), while and mean counts of Group 2 vs. Group 3 were comparable
(mCR: 1.39; 95%CI 0.92 to 2.09). Conclusions: The results of
our study showed that shortage was associated with drugs that are more
expensive outside Saudi Arabia. Additional international studies are
needed to explore this causal association.