Canada's continued struggle with drug shortages is alarming

Eleven percent of those surveyed said they themselves had experienced a drug shortage, 10 percent said they knew a family member who had been affected and nine percent said they knew someone other than family who had been affected.

Dr. Jacalyn Duffin, a hematologist and medical historian at Queen's University who studies the drug shortage issue, believed more people are affected by this problem pharmacists association's findings suggest because a relatively small number of 1,500 people from the general public, who may be infrequent users of medication, were questioned by this survey

Duffin said "the pill-taking population" — such as seniors, who tend to have chronic conditions requiring medication — were not targeted thereby bringing down the number of people whose prescriptions had to be changed due to a shortage.

Lack of clear data failed to measure accurately real impact of drug shortages on people.

EpiPen -- used for life-threatening allergic reactions to insect bites, nuts and other foods -- shortage in summer was an alarming concern to patients and parents of children who had to face life-threatening allergies, said Phil Emberley, CPA's director of practice advancement and research, who also works as a pharmacist in Ottawa.

In November of this year, Canada again faced serious problems of chronic drug shortage Wellbutrin, a widely used antidepressant and the shortages of various blood pressure medications, including ARBs (angiotensin receptor blockers).

Drug Shortages Canada, the federal government's official tracking website revealed shortage of more than 1,690 medications.

Health Canada had repeatedly said it was aware of the drug shortage issue and working to find solutions to the expert finding of the manufacturing issues to marketing and distribution decisions by pharmaceutical companies

Dr. Iris Gorfinkel, a Toronto family physician, said the process of finding an alternative medication is not cost-effective and added,

"It resonates very deeply because as a family doctor it's my job to make sure the patients get the drugs they need...Sometimes the substitute drug doesn't work...or has side effects that were not a feature of the original medication... Some people have died, said Gorfinkel."

Another potential danger of drug shortages is people resorting to unregulated online sources to try to get their medications, said  Emberley.

"To go to a website in a situation where there's a drug shortage ... and simply pick something out, there's significant risk with that," Emberley said. "Pharmacists are concerned that Canadians will resort to that out of desperation."

This online survey was conducted by Abacus Data between Nov 9 and 13, 2018, using a random sample of people from a set of "partner panels" (consisting of people who have agreed to complete surveys).

The margin of error for a comparable probability-based random sample of the same size is plus or minus 2.53 percent, 19 times out of 20.

(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)