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U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl is warning that pharmaceutical company mergers may be contributing to prescription medication shortages. In recent months, supplies of many pharmaceutical drugs, including some generic cancer medications, have dwindled, leading to widespread shortages.

The Wisconsin Democrat, who recently announced his plans to retire at the end of the year, wrote in a May 19 letter to the Federal Trade Commission that the planned merger between Israeli pharmaceutical giant Teva and Pennsylvania-based drug maker Cephalon is only the latest in a series of such mergers: There have been at least nine involving major pharma companies since 2000.

herb kohl (official photo)

“The impact of this consolidation may be having a serious effect on the availability of prescription drugs,” writes Kohl, chairman of the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee.

A representative of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists told The Financial Times, “There has been a lot of consolidation among manufacturers with fewer producing any given product … For older, off-patent drugs, some companies are disengaging because it’s not where the profit is.”

The group says its members reported shortages of 211 different drugs (defined as not being able to get the medications through “usual channels”) in 2010, up from 166 in 2009 and 149 in 2008.

According to Science, a shortage that began in 2010 of cytarabine – a cancer drug often given to leukemia patients – forced hospitals to ration the medication. Supplies of other generic cancer drugs have run low.

“I recognize that often shortages are likely to have causes not related to these competition issues,” writes Kohl. “Nonetheless, the mega-mergers of the past decade may be contributing to these critical drug deficiencies.”

The federal government has no authority to order drug companies to increase their output.

But new legislation introduced by U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat, would require the companies to notify the U.S. Food and Drug Administration if a manufacturing malfunction, shortage of raw materials or other mishap could cause a shortage.

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