Medication shortage is a growing global concern, impacting both developing and developed countries, with reports of shortages in hospitals and pharmacies between 2021 and 2024.

The number of drug shortages has been increasing, with 323 drugs in severe shortages in the United States in the first quarter of 2024, surpassing the record of 320 in 2014.

In France, 44 per cent of people reported facing a drug shortage in 2024, according to a survey by France Assos Santé.

The shortages have affected various types of drugs, including diabetes drugs, allergy treatments, antibiotics, and chemotherapy drugs.

The League Against Cancer found that 78 per cent of health professionals in oncology had faced a drug shortage, leading to anxiety among cancer patients, lost time, and worsening symptoms.

The American Society of Health System Pharmacists reported shortages of 309 drugs, near the all-time high of 320 shortages in 2014.

The FDA pointed to 111 drug shortages in the United States in 2021, including heart disease drugs, chemical drugs, and antibiotics.

The shortages have forced hospitals to delay, cancel, or ration care, or switch to alternate drugs, with 99% of hospital pharmacists reporting some drug supply shortages.

The reasons behind the shortages include supply chain disruptions, labor shortages, and manufacturing delays.

Healthcare systems have coped with the shortages by finding or substituting drugs and changing treatment plans as needed, but in some cases, there are no alternatives to the affected drugs, putting patients at risk.

Medication shortage is a growing global concern, impacting both developing and developed countries, with reports of shortages in hospitals and pharmacies between 2021 and 2024.

Title:

Content: French health groups put forward proposals to limit the damage of worsening drug shortages

Medicines such as cough syrup, lozenges and ointment are seen on a table in an apartment in Berlin, Tuesday, December 20, 2022. Copyright Stephanie Pilick/dpa via AP
Copyright Stephanie Pilick/dpa via AP
By Lauren Chadwick
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Pharmaceutical companies’ lack of transparency leads to rising drug prices and less control over public resources, the group of health organisations say.

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A group of French organisations have called for more transparency from pharmaceutical companies as drug shortages increase.

In a joint report, 14 civil society organisations outlined their recommendations to solve a “situation that has only worsened” since 2018.

The French medicines regulator signalled 4,925 drug shortages in 2023, compared to 3,761 in 2022 and 2,160 in 2021.

A 2024 survey from France Assos Santé, which represents patients, found that 44 per cent of people in France said they had faced a drug shortage this year.

One of the pharmacy unions in France has even planned a strike at the end of the month over drug shortages and what they say is worsening access to care.

Each health organisation contributed an article with recommendations for dealing with the drug shortages.

The League Against Cancer urged complete transparency on drug shortages and potential substitutions for health professionals.

They also called for monitoring of medicine stocks and their location in the country to guarantee equal access.

The organisation found in a survey published in February that 78 per cent of health professionals in oncology had been faced with a drug shortage.

Drug shortages or delays have led to anxiety among cancer patients, lost time, and worsening symptoms, the organisation said.

France Assos Santé, meanwhile, wrote that an urgent response should not be to support “the industrial sector which bears serious responsibilities” for abandoning the production of less profitable drugs, relocating drug production, and keeping insufficient medicine stocks.

They would like any cost increases justified by production costs or the risk of withdrawing a drug from the market due to it being unprofitable. They called for cost evaluations to be made public.

Their concerns also range from the use of public money to bring drug production to Europe to new government plans to prevent shortages.

Some changes at the EU level criticised

Last year, the European Commission announced several measures to reform the pharmaceutical industry and address critical drug shortages.

The European Parliament went on to adopt a position on pharmaceutical reform last month, that included “incentives for innovation” and an effort to limit overuse of antibiotics.

The non-profit organisation Prescrire, which focuses on information about medicine, wrote in a chapter they contributed to the report that while some of the European Commission’s measures were welcome, others were concerning.

One of the many measures they rejected included the Commission’s proposal to reduce the number of days of scientific evaluation of drugs from 210 to 180, which they said was necessary time rather than an “administrative obstacle”.

While the NGO welcomed some measures such as government drug shortage prevention plans, it said the Commission should allow EU states to require pharmaceutical companies to have safety stocks of medicine and sanction those that do not respect them.

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French consumer organisation UFC-Que Choisir and the European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) said that they had hoped MEPs would shorten the length of time for “data protection” to allow generic medicines to be marketed more quickly.

Instead, MEPs approved shortening the period to 7.5 years, “which is almost the same duration as the current 8 years [yet] within the framework of the text adopted by Parliament, companies can gain additional months of protection under certain conditions to reach a total of 8.5 years,” UFC-Que Choisir said.

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The number of drug shortages has been increasing, with 323 drugs in severe shortages in the United States in the first quarter of 2024, surpassing the record of 320 in 2014.

Title:

Content: Meitu
The first quarter of the United States serious drug shortage 323 drugs urgent cancer patients also have to be diverted and rationed!
CHU HENG NETWORK NEWS CENTER 2024-04-16 10: 42
According to the latest data from the American Society of Health System Pharmacists (ASHP) and the Utah Center for Drug Information Services, a total of 323 drugs in the United States were in severe shortages in the first quarter of this year, surpassing the record of 320 in 2014.
Among the drugs affected are the widely used diabetes drugs Ozempic and Mounjaro, the allergy treatment drug adrenaline, the common antibiotic amoxicillin for children, chemotherapy drugs and injections commonly used in hospitals in intensive care.
ASHP CEO Paul Abramowitz said in a statement that almost all categories of drugs are facing shortages, with non-patented sterile injectable drugs, including cancer chemotherapy drugs, and emergency drugs stored in hospital emergency vans and operating areas, the shortage of such drugs is the most worrying.
According to the American Cancer Society, chemotherapy is one of the top five drugs most affected by the shortage, which threatens to have a devastating impact on patients, and some hospitals and clinics say doctors have had to divert patients to ration their medications because of a shortage of some chemotherapy drugs.
In addition, ASHP noted that the continued nationwide shortage of ADHD drugs is “a problem for clinicians and patients. ”
The shortage of popular drugs is even more acute, with Mounjaro, the diabetes drug known as the “slimming pill ”, already in dire straits.
In response, Lilly said that the “unprecedented surge in demand ” for Mounjaro and its similar drug Zepbound has led to a shortage in the market, which the company is struggling to cope with.
Lilly is ramping up investments to boost production at Mounjaro and Zepbound in the second half of 2024.
The company said it expects intermittent supply disruptions in the near term due to unprecedented demand.
How to cure the drug shortage
The last major “drug shortage ” in U.S. history occurred in 2014, and it has only been alleviated in the years since.
Since 2021, the drug shortage situation seems to be increasing, and scholars in the field of medical health and economics in the United States believe that the reason for most drug shortages in the United States is the fragmentation of the drug supply chain.
The White House this month proposed spending between $3.26 billion and $5.11 billion over the next decade to help address the nation ’ s drug shortage.
The bill requires approval and funding from the U.S. Congress.
U.S. researchers and policymakers believe that a complete solution to the “drug shortage ” may require changes to the business model of the U.S. pharmaceutical industry, including measures to increase the price of generic drugs to attract more drug manufacturers.
Policymakers recommend giving the FDA more power to access more information about drug shortages and impending shortages.
Currently, the FDA relies primarily on phone calls to manufacturers asking if they can increase their supply to understand the situation.
The American Society of Health System Pharmacists said it is working with the federal government to advise the government on measures to address the drug shortage, including that Congress should require manufacturers to be more transparent on any supply chain issues and encourage more diversity in supply chains.
According to Abramowitz, “The federal government still has a lot of work to do to fundamentally address drug shortages, and the American Society of Health System Pharmacists will continue to engage regularly with policymakers to guide them in drafting and passing new legislation to address drug shortages and continue to advocate vigorously for proven solutions on behalf of our members. ”

In France, 44 per cent of people reported facing a drug shortage in 2024, according to a survey by France Assos Santé.

The shortages have affected various types of drugs, including diabetes drugs, allergy treatments, antibiotics, and chemotherapy drugs.

The League Against Cancer found that 78 per cent of health professionals in oncology had faced a drug shortage, leading to anxiety among cancer patients, lost time, and worsening symptoms.

The American Society of Health System Pharmacists reported shortages of 309 drugs, near the all-time high of 320 shortages in 2014.

Title:

Content: As drug shortage list grows, many hospitals face tough decisions on rationing care

More than half of hospital pharmacists are reporting a critical shortage of chemotherapy drugs and nearly all are reporting overall medicine supply gaps as prescription drug shortages near an all time high, according to a new survey.

Hospital pharmacists said drug shortages have forced 1 in 3 health systems to delay, cancel or ration care or switch to alternate drugs to continue to treat patients. And 99% are reporting some drug supply shortages, an American Society of Health-System Pharmacists survey of more than 1,000 pharmacists released Thursday found.

The organization reported shortages of 309 drugs, near the all-time high of 320 shortages in 2014. The scarcity of key drugs is prompting hospitals to find or substitute drugs and change treatment plans as needed.

“In some cases, there are no alternatives to the affected drugs, which puts patients at risk," ASHP Chief Executive Officer Paul W. Abramowitz said in a statement. "This issue requires quick action from Congress to address the underlying causes of shortages and ensure patients have the medications they need.”

Cancer drug shortages

In June, the Food and Drug Administration said it will temporarily allow overseas drug manufacturers to import some chemotherapy drugs.

The FDA allowed Qilu Pharmaceutical, a drug manufacturer in China, to import the injectable chemotherapy drug cisplatin in 50-milligram vials. Toronto pharmaceutical company Apotex Corp. will distribute the medication in the United States.

More than a dozen cancer drugs have been in shortage in recent months, including cisplatin and carboplatin, used to treat lung, breast, prostate and gynecologic cancers. The National Cancer Institute said cisplatin and similar drugs are prescribed for 10% to 20% of all cancer patients.

In June, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network released a survey of 27 academic cancer centers that found 93% reported shortages of carboplatin and 70% faced shortages of cisplatin.

When cancer hospitals face such shortages, they attempt to make sure there's enough medication for patients to finish the course of treatment, said Mike Ganio, ASHP's senior director of pharmacy practice and quality.

Cancer hospitals facing such shortages might change medications for new patients starting on chemotherapy, said Ganio, a former pharmacy manager at an academic cancer center.

"You try to keep that patient on the same regimen as much as you can, unless they're failing it for some reason, and then you would switch," Ganio said.

Steroids, hormonal drugs also in short supply

More than 1 in 5 hospital pharmacists also reported shortages for steroids, hormonal drugs and oral liquids such as lidocaine, ibuprofen and amoxicillin.

A smaller number of pharmacists said heart medications, emergency prefilled syringes and drugs used for intensive care unit patients were in short supply. Others reported shortages of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder medicines, antimicrobial drugs and injectable opioids.

In all, about two-thirds of pharmacists said the shortages were "moderately impactful," which means they are managing shortages but patients are affected.

Pharmacists are managing the shortages by offering therapeutic alternatives, buying different vial sizes or concentrations and rationing medicines.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Survey: Drug shortages are widespread, hospitals ration care

The FDA pointed to 111 drug shortages in the United States in 2021, including heart disease drugs, chemical drugs, and antibiotics.

Title:

Content: US supply chain crisis continues, FDA points to 111 drug shortages
Global Social Hotspot 16: 35 2021 / 12 / 05
Share:
The supply chain crisis in the United States continues, and many goods are facing shortages.
The US media said that the US pharmacies have a number of critical prescription drugs in stock. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) pointed out that about 111 drugs are out of stock in the United States. The FDA stressed that it will continue to take measures to monitor the supply chain.
【 Omicron variant 】 Travellers must have a negative test within 48 hours for entering the United Kingdom 【 Next 】
The Federal Reserve warned on Wednesday that large parts of the United States had begun to be affected by supply chain disruptions and labor shortages last month.
According to the FDA website, 111 drugs are out of stock in the United States, including the heart disease drug digoxin injection, the chemical drug Dacarbazine and some antibiotics.
The authorities say there are many reasons for the shortage, including production problems, quality problems, drugs and even the suspension of production.
According to the FDA, about 80% of the manufacturers of active pharmaceutical ingredients are located overseas, and the manufacturers have provided the FDA with most of the drug shortage information.
The Administration will also work closely with these manufacturers to address the drug shortage.
【 Omicron variant 】 Study: Omicron carries a cold virus gene or helps avoid the immune system 【 Next 】
Long Island Newspaper Newsday quoted Tom D'Angelo, president of the New York State Association of Pharmacists, as saying the shipping of a large number of medicines, including those for common blood pressure and for the treatment of colds and flu, was blocked.
Because of supply chain problems, the owner of a New York drugstore said there were fewer brands for some drugs, including Ibuprofen.
The National Association of Community Pharmacists (NCPA) released a survey last month that found that most non-chain pharmacies are struggling to fill employee vacancies and cope with supply chain disruptions.
Sixty percent of pharmacies surveyed said they were dealing with supply chain disruptions, and nearly 70 percent said it was difficult to fill staff vacancies.
Stay abreast of the latest development of mutant virus and epidemic vaccine, download the Hong Kong Economic Times App for free now 【 Click here
Editor-in-Chief: Cheng Kam-ling
Follow the latest financial news analysis, like hket Facebook
Subscribe to the Hong Kong Economic Times email newsletter
Receive first-hand financial news Learn more about investment and financial knowledge Submit my consent to receive promotional messages from Hong Kong Economic Times Group. You may also check the privacy policy of this website Terms of Use

The shortages have forced hospitals to delay, cancel, or ration care, or switch to alternate drugs, with 99% of hospital pharmacists reporting some drug supply shortages.

The reasons behind the shortages include supply chain disruptions, labor shortages, and manufacturing delays.

Healthcare systems have coped with the shortages by finding or substituting drugs and changing treatment plans as needed, but in some cases, there are no alternatives to the affected drugs, putting patients at risk.


The medication shortage is a growing global concern, impacting both developing and developed countries, with reports of shortages of medications and/or medical supplies in hospitals and pharmacies increasing between 2021 and 2024.

According to the American Society of Health System Pharmacists and the University of Utah Drug Information Service, organizations began tracking drug shortages for the first time in 2001, and the deficit is now at a record level.

As of the first three months of 2024, there were 323 drugs in short supply in the United States, surpassing the record of 320 in 2014.

The CEO of the American Society of Health System Pharmacists, Paul Abramowitz, stated that all drug classes are vulnerable to shortages, with some of the most worrisome shortages including sterile injectable generic drugs, including cancer chemotherapy drugs and emergency drugs stored in hospital vans and procedural areas.

A survey of more than 1,000 pharmacists found that 99% of hospital pharmacists are reporting some drug supply shortages, with more than half reporting a critical shortage of chemotherapy drugs.

The scarcity of key drugs is prompting hospitals to find or substitute drugs and change treatment plans as needed, with 1 in 3 health systems forced to delay, cancel, or ration care or switch to alternate drugs to continue treating patients.

In some cases, there are no alternatives to the affected drugs, which puts patients at risk, according to Paul Abramowitz, CEO of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists.

The five categories of drugs with the greatest deficiency include central nervous system stimulants, antimicrobials, hormonal agents, and intravenous fluids, in addition to the 32 chemotherapy drugs that are deficient.

The Drug Deficiency Database maintained by the American Society of Health System Pharmacists and the University of Utah is based on voluntary reports from practitioners, patients, and others that have been confirmed by manufacturers.

The crisis has lasted for a year and a half, with more than half of the treatment shortages lasting for more than two years, according to an analysis by health consultancy IQVIA.

The average shortage affects at least half a million patients, many of them elderly, according to the US.

The FDA pointed out that about 111 drugs are out of stock in the United States, including the heart disease drug digoxin injection, the chemical drug Dacarbazine, and some antibiotics.

The US supply chain crisis continues, with many goods facing shortages, and the Federal Reserve warned that large parts of the United States had begun to be affected by supply chain disruptions and labor shortages.

A survey by the National Association of Community Pharmacists found that most non-chain pharmacies are struggling to fill employee vacancies and cope with supply chain disruptions, with 60% of pharmacies surveyed saying they were dealing with supply chain disruptions.

Nearly 70% of pharmacies surveyed said it was difficult to fill staff vacancies, highlighting the challenges faced by healthcare systems in coping with medication shortages.

The widely used diabetes drugs Ozempic and Mounjaro, the allergy treatment drug adrenaline, the common antibiotic amoxicillin for children, chemotherapy drugs, and injections commonly used in hospitals in intensive care are among the drugs affected by the shortages.

The American Society of Health System Pharmacists and the Utah Center for Drug Information Services reported that a total of 323 drugs in the United States were in severe shortages in the first quarter of 2024.

The medication shortage is not limited to the United States, with a global study by The Lancet finding that there are about 6.4 million doctors missing in the world, and more than 43 million health workers missing when comparing the current level of coverage with the targets needed to achieve universal health coverage.

The study found that as of 2019, there were shortages of doctors in 132 countries, highlighting the need for adequate numbers of health workers to achieve universal health coverage.

In conclusion, the medication shortage is a growing global concern, with reports of shortages of medications and/or medical supplies in hospitals and pharmacies increasing between 2021 and 2024, affecting both developing and developed countries.

The reasons behind the shortages are complex and multifaceted, including supply chain disruptions, labor shortages, and manufacturing delays, and healthcare systems are coping with the shortages by finding or substituting drugs, changing treatment plans, and rationing care.

However, the medication shortage remains a significant challenge, with many patients at risk due to the lack of access to essential medications, and urgent action is needed to address the shortage and ensure that all patients have access to the medications they need.

The medication shortage is a growing global concern, impacting both developing and developed countries, with reports of shortages of medications and/or medical supplies in hospitals and pharmacies increasing between 2021 and 2024.

Title:

Content: US supply chain crisis continues, FDA points to 111 drug shortages
Global Social Hotspot 16: 35 2021 / 12 / 05
Share:
The supply chain crisis in the United States continues, and many goods are facing shortages.
The US media said that the US pharmacies have a number of critical prescription drugs in stock. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) pointed out that about 111 drugs are out of stock in the United States. The FDA stressed that it will continue to take measures to monitor the supply chain.
【 Omicron variant 】 Travellers must have a negative test within 48 hours for entering the United Kingdom 【 Next 】
The Federal Reserve warned on Wednesday that large parts of the United States had begun to be affected by supply chain disruptions and labor shortages last month.
According to the FDA website, 111 drugs are out of stock in the United States, including the heart disease drug digoxin injection, the chemical drug Dacarbazine and some antibiotics.
The authorities say there are many reasons for the shortage, including production problems, quality problems, drugs and even the suspension of production.
According to the FDA, about 80% of the manufacturers of active pharmaceutical ingredients are located overseas, and the manufacturers have provided the FDA with most of the drug shortage information.
The Administration will also work closely with these manufacturers to address the drug shortage.
【 Omicron variant 】 Study: Omicron carries a cold virus gene or helps avoid the immune system 【 Next 】
Long Island Newspaper Newsday quoted Tom D'Angelo, president of the New York State Association of Pharmacists, as saying the shipping of a large number of medicines, including those for common blood pressure and for the treatment of colds and flu, was blocked.
Because of supply chain problems, the owner of a New York drugstore said there were fewer brands for some drugs, including Ibuprofen.
The National Association of Community Pharmacists (NCPA) released a survey last month that found that most non-chain pharmacies are struggling to fill employee vacancies and cope with supply chain disruptions.
Sixty percent of pharmacies surveyed said they were dealing with supply chain disruptions, and nearly 70 percent said it was difficult to fill staff vacancies.
Stay abreast of the latest development of mutant virus and epidemic vaccine, download the Hong Kong Economic Times App for free now 【 Click here
Editor-in-Chief: Cheng Kam-ling
Follow the latest financial news analysis, like hket Facebook
Subscribe to the Hong Kong Economic Times email newsletter
Receive first-hand financial news Learn more about investment and financial knowledge Submit my consent to receive promotional messages from Hong Kong Economic Times Group. You may also check the privacy policy of this website Terms of Use

According to the American Society of Health System Pharmacists and the University of Utah Drug Information Service, organizations began tracking drug shortages for the first time in 2001, and the deficit is now at a record level.

Title:

Content: General Supervision
Elham Aboul Fath
Editor-in-Chief
Thank you for your patience.
General Supervision
Elham Aboul Fath
Editor-in-Chief
Thank you for your patience.
An Unexpected Catastrophe in the World ’ s Largest Country: The Complete Story of U.S. Drug Shortages
The deficit is at a record level.
According to data from the American Society of Health System Pharmacists and the University of Utah Drug Information Service, organizations began tracking drug shortages for the first time in 2001. Steady since 2021 – now reaching a record high of 323 drugs in the first three months of 2024.
Paul Abramowitz, CEO of the American Society of Health System Pharmacists, wrote in a blog post on Thursday: “It ’ s been a long time to end drug shortages, ” and wrote:“ All drug classes are vulnerable to shortages, some of the most worrisome shortages include sterile injectable generic drugs, including cancer chemotherapy drugs and emergency drugs stored in hospital vans and procedural areas. It is dangerous for doctors and patients. ”
In addition to the 32 chemotherapy drugs that are deficient, the five categories of drugs with the greatest deficiency include central nervous system stimulants, antimicrobials, hormonal agents, and intravenous fluids. [1] The Drug Deficiency Database maintained by the American Society of Health System Pharmacists and the University of Utah is based on voluntary reports from practitioners, patients, and others that have been confirmed by manufacturers. The U.S. drug is in short supply, because it captures broader effects on service providers and patients.
The crisis has lasted a year and a half.
More than half of the treatment shortages have lasted for more than two years, according to an analysis by health consultancy IQVIA, and the average shortage affects at least half a million patients, many of them elderly, according to the US Office of Health and Human Services under the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, which shared its analysis with Congress in May.
Growing demand can play a role in drug shortages, as with the recent shortage of weight-loss drugs, but often manufacturing and quality problems, such as supply chain gaps and downtime, are the root cause. And varied.
But the American Society of Health System Pharmacists has “serious concerns ” about parts of this proposal, especially financial sanctions imposed on hospitals that lack the resources to comply with the recommendations, Abramowitz wrote:“ We all know that managing shortages is not enough and is not a sustainable solution to the worsening crisis, and there is still a lot of work to be done at the federal level to fix the root causes of drug shortages. ”
Why Shortage Occurs
Shortages can be caused by high demand, as with the recent shortage of weight-loss drugs, but this is not usually the main problem.
The FDA also blames manufacturing and quality problems, supply chain gaps, and downtime, and Dr. Emily Tucker, a drug shortage expert and an assistant professor of industrial engineering at Clemson University, says that when there is an indication of shortages, large health systems often also proactively place large orders, adding to the system ’ s stress.
“I don ’ t blame anyone.
“When I talk to all the stakeholders – whether it ’ s wholesalers, manufacturers, or the government – everyone wants this problem to end, ” she said.
Lack of transparency
Dr. Julie Grallo, chief medical officer and executive vice president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, told the House Committee earlier that the shortage puts providers in a terrible position: “The drug shortage crisis is forcing providers to make impossible choices, and it is also hindering the development of new drugs. Health drugs are purchased only on a price basis, and manufacturers do not have to disclose the source of their acquisition of the ingredients.
The shortage of this generic chemical drug came due to the closure of one factory in India that manufactures the active ingredient after a surprise FDA inspection found “significant quality issues, ” says Jarallo:“ We didn ’ t know, and there was no transparency regarding the company ’ s supply of the majority of active pharmaceutical ingredients to all manufacturers across the board.
Knowing this in advance, we could have responded much faster, ” Dr. Steven Schundlemeyer, director of the PRIME Institute of the University of Minnesota School of Pharmacy, which focuses on economic and management issues, told the committee that as with defense contractors in the United States, New Zealand requires manufacturers to disclose their suppliers, and that information is required.
Easily accessible in the database.
Related Topics

As of the first three months of 2024, there were 323 drugs in short supply in the United States, surpassing the record of 320 in 2014.

The CEO of the American Society of Health System Pharmacists, Paul Abramowitz, stated that all drug classes are vulnerable to shortages, with some of the most worrisome shortages including sterile injectable generic drugs, including cancer chemotherapy drugs and emergency drugs stored in hospital vans and procedural areas.

A survey of more than 1,000 pharmacists found that 99% of hospital pharmacists are reporting some drug supply shortages, with more than half reporting a critical shortage of chemotherapy drugs.

Title:

Content: As drug shortage list grows, many hospitals face tough decisions on rationing care

More than half of hospital pharmacists are reporting a critical shortage of chemotherapy drugs and nearly all are reporting overall medicine supply gaps as prescription drug shortages near an all time high, according to a new survey.

Hospital pharmacists said drug shortages have forced 1 in 3 health systems to delay, cancel or ration care or switch to alternate drugs to continue to treat patients. And 99% are reporting some drug supply shortages, an American Society of Health-System Pharmacists survey of more than 1,000 pharmacists released Thursday found.

The organization reported shortages of 309 drugs, near the all-time high of 320 shortages in 2014. The scarcity of key drugs is prompting hospitals to find or substitute drugs and change treatment plans as needed.

“In some cases, there are no alternatives to the affected drugs, which puts patients at risk," ASHP Chief Executive Officer Paul W. Abramowitz said in a statement. "This issue requires quick action from Congress to address the underlying causes of shortages and ensure patients have the medications they need.”

Cancer drug shortages

In June, the Food and Drug Administration said it will temporarily allow overseas drug manufacturers to import some chemotherapy drugs.

The FDA allowed Qilu Pharmaceutical, a drug manufacturer in China, to import the injectable chemotherapy drug cisplatin in 50-milligram vials. Toronto pharmaceutical company Apotex Corp. will distribute the medication in the United States.

More than a dozen cancer drugs have been in shortage in recent months, including cisplatin and carboplatin, used to treat lung, breast, prostate and gynecologic cancers. The National Cancer Institute said cisplatin and similar drugs are prescribed for 10% to 20% of all cancer patients.

In June, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network released a survey of 27 academic cancer centers that found 93% reported shortages of carboplatin and 70% faced shortages of cisplatin.

When cancer hospitals face such shortages, they attempt to make sure there's enough medication for patients to finish the course of treatment, said Mike Ganio, ASHP's senior director of pharmacy practice and quality.

Cancer hospitals facing such shortages might change medications for new patients starting on chemotherapy, said Ganio, a former pharmacy manager at an academic cancer center.

"You try to keep that patient on the same regimen as much as you can, unless they're failing it for some reason, and then you would switch," Ganio said.

Steroids, hormonal drugs also in short supply

More than 1 in 5 hospital pharmacists also reported shortages for steroids, hormonal drugs and oral liquids such as lidocaine, ibuprofen and amoxicillin.

A smaller number of pharmacists said heart medications, emergency prefilled syringes and drugs used for intensive care unit patients were in short supply. Others reported shortages of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder medicines, antimicrobial drugs and injectable opioids.

In all, about two-thirds of pharmacists said the shortages were "moderately impactful," which means they are managing shortages but patients are affected.

Pharmacists are managing the shortages by offering therapeutic alternatives, buying different vial sizes or concentrations and rationing medicines.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Survey: Drug shortages are widespread, hospitals ration care

The scarcity of key drugs is prompting hospitals to find or substitute drugs and change treatment plans as needed, with 1 in 3 health systems forced to delay, cancel, or ration care or switch to alternate drugs to continue treating patients.

In some cases, there are no alternatives to the affected drugs, which puts patients at risk, according to Paul Abramowitz, CEO of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists.

The five categories of drugs with the greatest deficiency include central nervous system stimulants, antimicrobials, hormonal agents, and intravenous fluids, in addition to the 32 chemotherapy drugs that are deficient.

The crisis has lasted for a year and a half, with more than half of the treatment shortages lasting for more than two years, according to an analysis by health consultancy IQVIA.

The average shortage affects at least half a million patients, many of them elderly, according to the US.

The FDA pointed out that about 111 drugs are out of stock in the United States, including the heart disease drug digoxin injection, the chemical drug Dacarbazine, and some antibiotics.

The US supply chain crisis continues, with many goods facing shortages, and the Federal Reserve warned that large parts of the United States had begun to be affected by supply chain disruptions and labor shortages.

A survey by the National Association of Community Pharmacists found that most non-chain pharmacies are struggling to fill employee vacancies and cope with supply chain disruptions, with 60% of pharmacies surveyed saying they were dealing with supply chain disruptions.

Nearly 70% of pharmacies surveyed said it was difficult to fill staff vacancies, highlighting the challenges faced by healthcare systems in coping with medication shortages.

The widely used diabetes drugs Ozempic and Mounjaro, the allergy treatment drug adrenaline, the common antibiotic amoxicillin for children, chemotherapy drugs, and injections commonly used in hospitals in intensive care are among the drugs affected by the shortages.

Title:

Content: Meitu
The first quarter of the United States serious drug shortage 323 drugs urgent cancer patients also have to be diverted and rationed!
CHU HENG NETWORK NEWS CENTER 2024-04-16 10: 42
According to the latest data from the American Society of Health System Pharmacists (ASHP) and the Utah Center for Drug Information Services, a total of 323 drugs in the United States were in severe shortages in the first quarter of this year, surpassing the record of 320 in 2014.
Among the drugs affected are the widely used diabetes drugs Ozempic and Mounjaro, the allergy treatment drug adrenaline, the common antibiotic amoxicillin for children, chemotherapy drugs and injections commonly used in hospitals in intensive care.
ASHP CEO Paul Abramowitz said in a statement that almost all categories of drugs are facing shortages, with non-patented sterile injectable drugs, including cancer chemotherapy drugs, and emergency drugs stored in hospital emergency vans and operating areas, the shortage of such drugs is the most worrying.
According to the American Cancer Society, chemotherapy is one of the top five drugs most affected by the shortage, which threatens to have a devastating impact on patients, and some hospitals and clinics say doctors have had to divert patients to ration their medications because of a shortage of some chemotherapy drugs.
In addition, ASHP noted that the continued nationwide shortage of ADHD drugs is “a problem for clinicians and patients. ”
The shortage of popular drugs is even more acute, with Mounjaro, the diabetes drug known as the “slimming pill ”, already in dire straits.
In response, Lilly said that the “unprecedented surge in demand ” for Mounjaro and its similar drug Zepbound has led to a shortage in the market, which the company is struggling to cope with.
Lilly is ramping up investments to boost production at Mounjaro and Zepbound in the second half of 2024.
The company said it expects intermittent supply disruptions in the near term due to unprecedented demand.
How to cure the drug shortage
The last major “drug shortage ” in U.S. history occurred in 2014, and it has only been alleviated in the years since.
Since 2021, the drug shortage situation seems to be increasing, and scholars in the field of medical health and economics in the United States believe that the reason for most drug shortages in the United States is the fragmentation of the drug supply chain.
The White House this month proposed spending between $3.26 billion and $5.11 billion over the next decade to help address the nation ’ s drug shortage.
The bill requires approval and funding from the U.S. Congress.
U.S. researchers and policymakers believe that a complete solution to the “drug shortage ” may require changes to the business model of the U.S. pharmaceutical industry, including measures to increase the price of generic drugs to attract more drug manufacturers.
Policymakers recommend giving the FDA more power to access more information about drug shortages and impending shortages.
Currently, the FDA relies primarily on phone calls to manufacturers asking if they can increase their supply to understand the situation.
The American Society of Health System Pharmacists said it is working with the federal government to advise the government on measures to address the drug shortage, including that Congress should require manufacturers to be more transparent on any supply chain issues and encourage more diversity in supply chains.
According to Abramowitz, “The federal government still has a lot of work to do to fundamentally address drug shortages, and the American Society of Health System Pharmacists will continue to engage regularly with policymakers to guide them in drafting and passing new legislation to address drug shortages and continue to advocate vigorously for proven solutions on behalf of our members. ”

The American Society of Health System Pharmacists and the Utah Center for Drug Information Services reported that a total of 323 drugs in the United States were in severe shortages in the first quarter of 2024.

The medication shortage is not limited to the United States, with a global study by The Lancet finding that there are about 6.4 million doctors missing in the world, and more than 43 million health workers missing when comparing the current level of coverage with the targets needed to achieve universal health coverage.

Title:

Content: A global study by The Lancet found that there are about 6.4 million doctors missing in the world.
To date, more than 12.8 million specialists with a medical diploma work in the field of health care, but much more is needed.
Staffing capacity
The study, titled “Measuring human resource affordability for health and its relationship to universal health coverage for 204 countries and territories from 1990 to 2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study, ” was published May 23 in The Lancet.
The authors studied the number of doctors, nurses and midwives, dental and pharmaceutical staff and found that as of 2019, there were shortages of doctors in 132 countries.
Globally, there are more than 43 million health workers missing when we compare the current level of coverage with the targets needed to achieve universal health coverage.
“This is the most comprehensive and comprehensive assessment to date of the global health workforce.
Adequate numbers of health workers are necessary for the normal functioning of health systems, so it is important to own such data so that countries can make informed decisions and plan for the future, ” said the study ’ s senior author, director of health organization at the Institute of Health Metrics and Assessment (IHME) at the University of Washington School of Medicine, Dr. Rafael Lozano.
As of 2019, there were 104 million healthcare workers worldwide, including 12.8 million doctors, 29.8 million nurses and midwives, 4.6 million dental workers, and 5.2 million pharmacists and pharmacists.
The study revealed more than a tenfold difference in the availability of health workers across regions and between countries.
The greatest shortage of doctors is in South Asia, where there is a shortage of 2.57 million doctors; in sub-Saharan Africa, there is a shortage of about 1.92 million doctors, in Southeast Asia, East Asia and Oceania - 995,000, in North Africa and the Middle East - 636,000 doctors.
On average, there are 16.7 doctors per 10,000 people in the world.
Density ranges from 2.9 physicians per 10,000 population in sub-Saharan Africa to 38.3 per 10,000 in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
Cuba unexpectedly stands out among other countries with an indicator of 84.4 doctors per 10 thousand people (for comparison: 2.1 doctors per 10 thousand in Haiti).
The availability of health workers in general is closely related to the level of social and economic development of the region, the authors of the study noted.
Health standards
“There are various strategies and policy approaches that can help address staffing shortages, and they need to be tailored to the individual situation in each country.
We hope that these assessments can be used to prioritize policy actions and inform future planning.
Achieving high levels of effective health coverage requires a significant increase in the number of health workers worldwide, ” the press release said.
Experts assessed staffing based on the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the WHO Health Personnel 2030 strategy.
The authors of the study called on the leaders of countries to pay attention to the problem of shortage of medical workers and to develop comprehensive programs to solve it
Overall, experts estimate that an additional 6.4 million doctors, 30.6 million nurses, 3.3 million dentists and 2.9 million pharmacists and pharmacists are required to reach the minimum thresholds.
“We do not consider these minimum thresholds mandatory, rather desirable.
We propose to use them as guidelines, and then the program developers in each country should take into account their own situation and their own experience.
In some places, the healthcare system works better with fewer staff, and in some places worse with more staff.
The threshold is a convenient and innovative metric for determining gaps, but it should be remembered that this is not only a matter of quantity, but also of quality, ” the study says.
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The study found that as of 2019, there were shortages of doctors in 132 countries, highlighting the need for adequate numbers of health workers to achieve universal health coverage.

In conclusion, the medication shortage is a growing global concern, with reports of shortages of medications and/or medical supplies in hospitals and pharmacies increasing between 2021 and 2024, affecting both developing and developed countries.

The reasons behind the shortages are complex and multifaceted, including supply chain disruptions, labor shortages, and manufacturing delays, and healthcare systems are coping with the shortages by finding or substituting drugs, changing treatment plans, and rationing care.

However, the medication shortage remains a significant challenge, with many patients at risk due to the lack of access to essential medications, and urgent action is needed to address the shortage and ensure that all patients have access to the medications they need.


Voice cloning technology is becoming increasingly realistic and accessible, raising both excitement and concern about its potential applications and implications.

The technology uses artificial intelligence to study a short sample of someone's voice and create a deepfake, which can be used for various purposes, including entertainment, accessibility, and scams.

According to Bruce Reed, the head of artificial intelligence for US President Joe Biden, voice cloning is one of the reasons he can't sleep at night, highlighting the potential risks and threats associated with this technology.

The Federal Trade Commission has also warned that scammers are using AI technology to increase the credibility of their fraud, using voice cloning tools that make it harder for people to distinguish between AI-generated voices and human voices.

OpenAI has explained its text-to-speech tool, which uses a 15-second clip of human voices to generate a natural sounding human voice, and has stressed that the tool is not currently widely available and may not be available in the future.

The technology has developed rapidly in the past year, becoming far more realistic and nuanced, with some companies, such as ElevenLabs, releasing voice-cloning software that can replicate a person's voice using just a few minutes of audio.

However, this technology has also raised ethical concerns, with some experts warning that it could be used to extort money from loved ones or to spread misinformation.

In terms of legal implications, there are concerns about the potential for voice cloning to be used for fraudulent purposes, and some experts are calling for greater regulation and oversight of this technology.

Overall, voice cloning technology is a rapidly evolving field that holds both promise and peril, and it is essential to consider the potential risks and benefits as it continues to develop.

Voice cloning technology is becoming increasingly realistic and accessible, raising both excitement and concern about its potential applications and implications.

The technology uses artificial intelligence to study a short sample of someone's voice and create a deepfake, which can be used for various purposes, including entertainment, accessibility, and scams.

Title:

Content: Aug 31, 2022

Now, software can replicate your boss’s voice and tell you what to do

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"Deepfake" audio technology is here, and scammers are taking advantage.

If you’re listening to or have already listened to the beginning of this episode, you probably noticed that the voice introducing Kimberly Adams sounded a bit off, right?

That’s because it’s an audio “deepfake,” and it was created by Yisroel Mirsky at the Offensive AI Research Lab through a process called voice cloning.

It uses software to study a short sample of someone’s voice and create a deepfake, which in this case took only 15 seconds to generate, according to Mirsky.

It’s far from a perfect replica, but it turns out that scammers recently started to use deepfake audio for telephone scams and in some cases have succeeded.

Marketplace’s Kimberly Adams recently spoke with Kyle Alspach, a cybersecurity reporter with Protocol, about how the tech behind audio deepfakes works and how they’re being used in phone scams. The following is an edited transcript of their conversation.

Kyle Alspach: The technology involves having [artificial intelligence], deep learning, and it takes an audio sample of someone’s voice. It can be as little as three seconds, and it trains itself on the way that this person sounds. And it creates a model that can then be used to replicate that person’s voice. The current way that it works is you have to use text to speech, which is just you type in a phrase, and then it speaks using the cloned voice.

Kimberly Adams: How are these audio deepfakes being used in scams?

Alspach: So they’re, at least we know, being used to target businesses at this point, especially larger businesses. Someone will call up pretending to be someone else with someone else’s voice, typically some kind of executive or someone’s boss, and ask them to transfer funds or ask them for password credentials, that kind of thing. And in some cases, they have been successful.

Adams: Do you have a sense of how common audio deepfakes are now? And where do experts in the industry see it going?

Alspach: You know, among the larger businesses, I think more and more of them are starting to see these because they’re really ripe targets for this kind of thing. But right now, I don’t think that it’s something that a lot of people are seeing, but it is the beginning of this kind of technology being used in this way.

Adams: What do cybersecurity experts suggest that regular people or businesses do to avoid falling for these deepfake audio scams?

Alspach: For business purposes, for instance, if you’re going to transfer money, you might want to add some additional steps to that process and involve someone saying some kind of challenge phrase or something like that, that everyone’s agreed on beforehand, [to] prevent that from happening. But the biggest thing is just to be aware that it might happen to you and to pay attention when someone calls you up and make sure that it actually sounds the way you would expect, and they are asking you for things that they normally would be asking you for. It’s really at this point kind of a low-tech approach to defending against this kind of thing. But really, it’s just creating the possibility in your mind of this happening. And I guess, unfortunately, you kind of have to become more skeptical now when people call you up.

You can read more of Alspach’s reporting on audio deepfakes here.

Yisroel Mirsky told us that the tech he used to generate the deepfake audio for Alspach’s article, and for our show, is “relatively old.”

Alspach also mentioned in his piece that there is an open-source voice cloning tool online that anyone — even scammers can download and potentially use.

But as we found out, getting that software to work isn’t a simple process of downloading and hitting the Install button.

Tech barriers can stop you at a number of steps in the process. Like, if you don’t know the coding language Python or if your computer isn’t powerful enough, you’ll likely be unable to use it, as our producer Daniel Shin discovered.

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Every day, the “Marketplace Tech” team demystifies the digital economy with stories that explore more than just Big Tech. We’re committed to covering topics that matter to you and the world around us, diving deep into how technology intersects with climate change, inequity, and disinformation.

As part of a nonprofit newsroom, we’re counting on listeners like you to keep this public service paywall-free and available to all.

Support “Marketplace Tech” in any amount today and become a partner in our mission.

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What is necessary for voice cloning to work?

According to Bruce Reed, the head of artificial intelligence for US President Joe Biden, voice cloning is one of the reasons he can't sleep at night, highlighting the potential risks and threats associated with this technology.

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Speech cloning raises concerns, OpenAI again explains its text-to-speech tool
2024 / 6 / 10 9: 57: 21 Source: IT House Author: Yuanyang Editor: Yuanyang
OpenAI explained its text-to-speech tool for the second time in a few months, and again stressed that the tool is not currently widely available and may not be available in the future.
“Whether or not we end up deploying this technology at scale, it ’ s important for people around the world to understand where it ’ s going, ” OpenAI said in a statement on its website Friday.“ That ’ s why we want to explain how the model works, how we use it for research and education, and how we implement security measures around the technology. ”
At the end of last year, OpenAI shared its “voice engine ” with a small number of external users.
The engine uses text input and a 15-second clip of human voices to “generate a natural sounding human voice that is very similar to the original speaker. ”
The tool could create fake, multilingual human voices, and the company said at the time that it had chosen to preview the technology rather than launch it at scale to “enhance social resilience ” to the threat posed by“ increasingly realistic artificial intelligence-generated models. ”
As part of these efforts, OpenAI says it is actively phasing out ways to use voice recognition for bank account verification, exploring policies to protect individual voices for use in AI, educating the public about the risks of AI, and accelerating the development of technologies to track audiovisual content so users can identify whether they are interacting with real people or synthetic content.
However, despite these efforts, concerns about the technology remain.
Bruce Reed, the head of artificial intelligence for US President Joe Biden, has said that voice cloning is one of the reasons he can't sleep at night.
The Federal Trade Commission said in March that scammers were using AI technology to increase the credibility of their fraud, using voice cloning tools that make it harder for people to distinguish between AI-generated voices and human voices.
“We continue to engage with U.S. and international partners from government, media, entertainment, education, civil society, and more to ensure we incorporate their feedback in the build process, ” the company also noted, once the“ Voice Engine ” is equipped with its latest model, GPT-4o, it will also bring new threats.
The company says it is actively “conducting ‘ red team testing ’ on GPT-4o to identify and address known and unknown risks from areas such as social psychology, bias and fairness, and misinformation. ”
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What are some risks regarding AI voice clning?

The Federal Trade Commission has also warned that scammers are using AI technology to increase the credibility of their fraud, using voice cloning tools that make it harder for people to distinguish between AI-generated voices and human voices.

What are some risks regarding AI voice clning?

What has the US Federal Trade Commission warned about the use of voice cloning tools?

Difficult to distinguish from human voice

OpenAI has explained its text-to-speech tool, which uses a 15-second clip of human voices to generate a natural sounding human voice, and has stressed that the tool is not currently widely available and may not be available in the future.

What is necessary for voice cloning to work?

The technology has developed rapidly in the past year, becoming far more realistic and nuanced, with some companies, such as ElevenLabs, releasing voice-cloning software that can replicate a person's voice using just a few minutes of audio.

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What are the advantages and disadvantages of using AI to simulate the dead man ’ s companionship and chat with “AI to reproduce the dead ”?
If you want to understand the pain of bereavement, there are religious rituals such as channeling the spirit and watching the yin, and now there is AI artificial intelligence.
Since the advent of artificial intelligence chatbots, they not only allow users to create avatars, but also to imitate the habits and sounds of their deceased loved ones.
Experts pointed out that the "AI resurrected dead" have business ethics and privacy policy issues, and even touch the ethical bottom line, "which is a way to make money through artificial intelligence hype"; but there are also some widowed people who can find comfort and cause discussion.
AI Simulates Dead Husband ’ s Voice to Solve Sadness and Loneliness
According to CNN, Ana Schultz, 25, who lives with two young children, misses her husband, Kyle, who died in 2023, and talks to her virtual husband about what to cook for dinner through Snapchat ’ s chatbot My AI, making her feel like he is still around.
Danielle Jacobson, a 38-year-old radio personality who lost her husband Phil about seven months ago, began using the voice function of ChatGPT to create an "AI boyfriend - Cole", and during the dinner time after working hard every day, Cole would suggest that she drink or watch a movie, "I just want to talk to someone, Cole is essentially born out of loneliness." And...
“Now it ’ s a fun pastime, but I know it ’ s not real and it ’ s not forever, ” she says.
For centuries, people have wanted to reconnect with their deceased loved ones, including visiting wizards, psychics, psychics, and more.
Today, generative AI tools use algorithms to create text, video, audio, and code, and Deepfake ’ s highly lifelike artificially generated images and sound fake videos can learn to answer questions like a dead loved one.
ChatGPT introduced voice dialogue in September 2023, and to simulate the tone and personality of a deceased loved one, the more data is provided to the system, the more accurate the results will be. ChatGPT replied: “Although I can ’ t copy your spouse or reproduce his exact personality, I can try to use a conversational style or tone to help you. ”
If you share details about how he speaks, his interests, or his mantra, I can try to incorporate these elements into our conversation. ”
Tech giants, startups expand into new areas
Startup companies have been challenging to expand this field in recent years. HereAfter AI, an artificial intelligence application founded in 2019, provides users with the ability to create portraits of deceased relatives, learn their interview characteristics, and respond to users ’ questions; StoryFile, another AI video platform, provides dialogue videos created by artificial intelligence.
Replika, a chatbot that launched in 2017, encourages users to make friends, allowing users to send text messages or call personalized AI avatars, and says on the iOS App Store page that the more users interact with it, the more it can develop its personality, memory, and “grow into a machine so beautiful that the soul wants to live in it. ”
In June 2022, Amazon announced an update to its smart home voice platform, Alexa, to mimic any sound, and a video showing Alexa reading stories to his grandson in his grandmother ’ s voice was shown during the annual conference “re: MARS. ”
Amazon senior vice president Rohit Prasad said the new system is able to collect enough voice data from less than a minute of audio to make personality possible. “Although AI can ’ t eliminate the pain of losing loved ones, it can make their memories last longer. ”
In recent years, the technology of artificial intelligence to reproduce human voices has also advanced, such as Val Kilmer, the actor in the film "Top Gun: Maverick", whose voice was created by artificial intelligence after he lost his voice due to throat cancer.
Say what you didn't say, do what you didn't do.
A 49-year-old IT worker from Alabama simulates his dead father ’ s voice using technology from voice replication company ElevenLabs.
The man used a three-minute video of his father ’ s life to copy the sound and convert text to speech.
The man thought the result was extremely accurate and was able to capture the nuances, timbre and rhythm in the sound. “I hesitated throughout the sound reproduction process, worried that it crossed the moral bottom line, but after much thought, I thought it was a unique way to preserve my father ’ s memory. ”
""
However, although ElevenLabs claims to be committed to preventing the abuse of audio artificial intelligence tools, it has caused controversy in the United States due to the deeply false voice of US President Joe Biden interfering with the election.
Mark Sample, a professor of digital studies at Davidson College, who teaches a course called “Death in the Digital Age, ” said:“ It ’ s a novelty brought about by artificial intelligence hype, and manufacturers feel they can make money.
Moreover, AI models still lack the uniqueness of human conversation.
“Never upload any personal information that you don ’ t want the world to see, ” he warns. Simulating a dead loved one saying something they ’ ve never said before is a blurry line.“ Replaying a loved one ’ s voice message is one thing, but saying something they ’ ve never said is another. ”
Business ethics and privacy policy questioned
The AI industry faces multiple questions about error messages, privacy, and ethics. Many AI platforms have online privacy policies that state that they “will not sell data to third parties, ” but it is not yet known how these companies will handle database data.
Deep hypocrisy attacks familiar security and trust mechanisms that allow deceased loved ones to express or do things they never said or did in their lives, raising ethical concerns.
And, is this good or bad for living relatives to come out of grief?
Replika said on its Business Ethics Policy page that the company uses data from the entire network to train models, including large amounts of written text, such as platforms such as X (formerly Twitter) or Reddit, and uses a variety of methods to reduce harmful information, including filtering out useless and harmful data through crowdsourcing and classification algorithms to keep users safe.
Another doubt is whether using AI to reproduce the dead can recognize the reality and walk out of sadness?
Mary-Frances O'Connor, a professor of clinical psychology and psychiatry at the University of Arizona, said there are advantages and disadvantages to using artificial intelligence to adjust to grief.
“When we have a relationship with a lover, the brain encodes, ‘ I will always be with you, and I hope you will always be with me, ’ but when they die, our brains must recognize that this person is not coming back. ”
Because the brain is hard to process this, it takes a long time for people to truly understand that their loved one has disappeared, and this is where AI technology comes in.
Especially in the early stages of grief, people will try to seek comfort in any way, "creating an avatar to maintain the memory of a deceased lover may be healing."
But she pointed out that the healthy relationship between humans and close lovers should be based on the real, and the creation of virtual lovers violates this.
Getting out of the pain of widowhood can't just rely on AI
San Francisco software engineer Bill Abney, who lost his fiancee in May 2022, stressed that he would never consider recreating his lover ’ s image through artificial intelligence. “My fiancee is a poet, and I would never enter her words into an automatic copying machine, which is disrespectful to her. ”
She cannot be replaced, nor can she be recreated.
Fortunately, Bill said, he still has a recording of his fiancee singing and speaking. “I definitely don ’ t want to hear her voice coming from a robot pretending to be her. ”
Some people interact with their deceased loved ones in other ways. Canadian psychologist Jodi Spiegel, who lost her husband in April 2021, created the role in the video game “The Sims ”.“ When I had a very bad day, I would go dancing in the Sims and my husband was playing the guitar. ” Camping, beach trips, even intimacy. “It ’ s healing. I miss hanging out with my husband so much. It feels like a connection. ”
This article is licensed from the Health Care Network.
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Deepdub, a film dubbing company, uses an AI to process voice and translate into a different language and promises to preserve what?

What company created an AI tool that could mimic the voices of deceased movie stars?

What is necessary for voice cloning to work?

However, this technology has also raised ethical concerns, with some experts warning that it could be used to extort money from loved ones or to spread misinformation.

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Content: OpenAI's Johansson gaffe pushes voice cloning into spotlight

Law enforcement warned that AI clones could be used to extort money from loved ones over the phone

By AFP

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Scarlett Johansson voiced an AI character in the film "Her". — Reuters file

Published: Mon 27 May 2024, 7:51 PM

Last updated: Mon 27 May 2024, 7:52 PM

OpenAI was forced to apologise to actor Scarlett Johansson last week for using her voice -- or something very similar -- on its latest chatbot, throwing the spotlight on to voice-cloning tech.

Although OpenAI denied the voice they used was Johansson's, their case was not helped by CEO Sam Altman flagging the new model with a one-word message on social media -- "Her".

Johansson voiced an AI character in the film "Her", which Altman has previously said is his favourite film about the technology.

Right from the start, AI voice cloning has proved problematic.

Last year, British firm Elevenlabs went viral for all the wrong reasons when it released its voice-cloning software.

Internet pranksters immediately began pushing out deepfaked celebrities -- Harry Potter star Emma Watson was shown reading Hitler's Mein Kampf.

Law enforcement warned that AI clones could be used to extort money from loved ones over the phone.

The technology has developed rapidly in the past year becoming far more realistic and nuanced.

Danish entrepreneur Victor Riparbelli, CEO of British AI firm Synthesia, told AFP it was largely down to a program called Tortoise that was released two years ago.

The program's developers threw thousands of hours of voice data into their model in an unstructured way and discovered it not only learnt what to say but how to say it.

"That was a pretty big paradigm shift," Riparbelli said on the sidelines of last week's VivaTech conference in Paris.

Tortoise was an open source program and Elevenlabs was the first to go to market using it.

OpenAI uses similar systems though they do not release any details.

Much of the controversy around voice cloning has focused on concerns over people misusing the software.

But the claim against OpenAI is unusual because it is the company itself accused of playing fast and loose.

"It was very unfortunate that OpenAI did that -- really not very good," Katya Laine, CEO of TALKR.ai, told AFP at VivaTech.

"If they actually cloned her voice without her knowing then I think that's very very bad," said Riparbelli.

The two entrepreneurs are among hundreds harnessing AI voice programs for uses that they argue will make companies more efficient.

Laine's firm provides virtual voice assistants -- essentially AI customer service agents.

She said her firm's system could now resolve 25 to 30 percent of calls without any human involvement.

Synthesia specialises in video avatars, which Riparbelli said allowed any office worker to turn text or slides into a video performed by a realistic AI.

Both Riparbelli and Laine allow their clients to use their own avatars, off-the-shelf products or those supplied by the likes of OpenAI and Elevenlabs.

Riparbelli said Synthesia used actors whose likenesses and voices were licensed for two years with an option to renew after the initial period.

The problems arise if actors' voices are used without their consent.

The fiasco overshadowed a developer conference in Paris last week when OpenAI was showing off a suite of new tools.

In front of a big screen in an auditorium, Romain Huet, OpenAI's Head of Developer Experience, breezily chatted into his phone.

Seconds later, his short voice sample had been processed and could be heard commentating over a generated video -- in five languages.

The demonstration showed how quickly the field is moving, but the headlines had already been written.

The Washington Post asked in a newsletter "How dumb is OpenAI?", other commentators were suggesting wunderkind Altman was nothing more than a huckster.

Nonetheless, Riparbelli was open to OpenAI's argument that they had used another actor who just sounded liked Johansson.

"If it's not her but someone who sounds a lot like her... where do you draw that line," Riparbelli asked.

"If they're not allowed to use someone who sounds a lot like her, then it sets a very odd precedent."

More news from World

What are some risks regarding AI voice clning?

In terms of legal implications, there are concerns about the potential for voice cloning to be used for fraudulent purposes, and some experts are calling for greater regulation and oversight of this technology.

What do cybersecurity experts believe about the use of synthesized voice?

could become a popular method of attacking banks and financial services

Overall, voice cloning technology is a rapidly evolving field that holds both promise and peril, and it is essential to consider the potential risks and benefits as it continues to develop.

What are some risks regarding AI voice clning?