This is the second cautionary piece about generic drugs I’ve read in the past two days. The first was from last week’s Economist [1] and made a different point.

This is the second cautionary piece about generic drugs I’ve read in the past two days. The first was from last week’s Economist [1] and made a different point. It argued that generic drugs are such a viciously competitive market that the surviving manufacturers are those that cut the most corners. Corners cut range from outright fraud (as mentioned in this topic) to manufacture that is both highly consolidated and prone to just-rare-enough breakdowns that — because more reliable competitors have been priced out of the generics market — lead to sudden drastic shortages and the attendant problems for consumers. Zooming out a bit, it looks like a specific example of a wider trend of supply chains that are long and efficient until their fragility becomes clear thanks to a well-timed and well-placed break. I wonder what other specific products have a dysfunctional market like this? [1] https://www.economist.com/international/2019/09/14/a-dire-scarcity-of-drugs-is-worsening-in-part-because-they-are-so-cheap https://www.economist.com/international/2019/09/14/a-dire-sc...