Ophthalmic medications represent a disproportionate 15% of all active drug shortages in the United States.
The median duration of an ophthalmic drug shortage is 326 days, significantly exceeding the 298-day median observed for non-ophthalmic medications (p=0.023).
Patent protection serves as a critical buffer; off-patent ophthalmic drugs experience shortages nearly twice as long as patent-protected counterparts (359 vs. 184 days).
Anti-infective agents (35%) and steroids (26%) constitute the majority of ophthalmic supply disruptions, posing severe risks to vision preservation.
