A new executive order signed this week by President Obama addresses the growing problem of shortages affecting vital drug and pharmaceutical supplies, some of which have caused  increased medical expenses due to gouging of scarce supplies and serious health problems and deaths.

Writes the Associated Press: Patient deaths have been blamed on the shortages, which tend to affect cancer drugs, anesthetics, drugs used in emergency medicine, and electrolytes needed for intravenous feeding. Hospitals have been forced to buy from secondary suppliers at huge markups. Surgeries and cancer treatments have been delayed. 

Notes NewsHour, The executive order from the White House called on the FDA to broaden its reporting of potential drug shortages, speed up the review of applications from companies wishing to change production of drugs facing a potential shortage, and pass along more information to the Justice Department regarding instances of suspected collusion or price gouging.

Houston trial attorney Mark Lanier, who has handled many of the nation’s largest pharmaceutical cases, says pharmaceutical companies should not be permitted to collude in order to increase drug prices.

"If collusion causes a shortage of life-saving medicines, patients likely can bring federal antitrust and state unfair business practices lawsuits against the offending businesses," Mr. Lanier says. "For more than 120 years, federal law has prevented large companies from fixing supplies, prices or market shares, and most states have similar laws forbidding unfair business practices. Reporting possible price gouging and collusion certainly should help reveal to the American public the true cause of medicine shortages."