Hospitals, pharmacies and physician's offices are both buyers and sellers feeding a so-called gray market for drugs often marked up to exorbitant prices and sold to hospitals struggling with drug shortages.
The growing number of drug shortages in the U.S. has led to an increased focus on gray-market vendors and concerns about the quality and safety of the products they are selling. There were 198 reported drug shortages as of Aug. 25, compared with 211 for the full year of 2010, according to the University of Utah Drug Information Service.