Hospitals are dealing with a shortage of sodium bicarbonate, a drug whose active ingredient is essentially the same one that cooks know as baking soda. The simple drug is used in all sorts of treatments, from chemotherapies to those for organ failure. It is found on emergency crash carts and is used in open-heart surgery and as an antidote to certain poisons. Pfizer and the other manufacturer, Amphastar, have said they don’t know precisely when the problem will be fixed, but it will not be before June for some forms of the drug, and in August or later for other formulations. SUBSCRIBE NOW

Amphastar is indicating it now has some supply available, but Pfizer said in a “Dear Customer” letter last week that it will be late June to sometime in August before it can provide clients with the simple but essential drug. Shortages of low-priced, stable drugs like sodium bicarbonate and saline solution have become a fact of life for hospital pharmacies. RELATED: Shortages, soaring generic injectable drug prices leave hospitals scrambling

In fact, Pfizer said in its letter last week, the shortage of sodium bicarbonate is one of eight it is dealing with right now. A hospital in Mobile, Alabama, for example, postponed seven open-heart surgeries and sent one critically ill patient to another hospital due to the shortage. RELATED: Pfizer subpoenaed to testify in DOJ's antitrust probe of saline shortages

In the matter of the current shortages, Pfizer said that it has a “dedicated team focused on addressing these delays” and has taken eight steps to speed the recovery of supplies, including allocating some medicines to minimize stockouts, increasing production at key injectable plants and qualifying alternative third-party suppliers who meet the company’s standards.
Because of a nationwide shortage of intravenous sodium bicarbonate (i.e., baking soda solution), United States hospitals are rationing its use in heart surgery, chemotherapy, for patients whose blood is too acidic, and as an antidote to certain poisons. The two primary producers, Amphastar and Pfizer, indicate that supplies will not increase until late June.