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A Common Childbirth Drug Doubles in Price as Shortages Drag On

Hospitals confront rising costs and complications in tracking down critical medicines.

The increasing scarcity of drugs commonly used in emergency rooms and labor and delivery wards is forcing some hospitals to scramble to find supplies.

The increasing scarcity of drugs commonly used in emergency rooms and labor and delivery wards is forcing some hospitals to scramble to find supplies.

Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

The price of a drug given to millions of women in the U.S. every year to help speed up labor or recover from childbirth more than doubled this week, in a sign of deepening market dysfunction that has left some health-care providers scrambling to find critical medicines.

Endo International Plc raised the price of a one milliliter single-dose vial of Pitocin at the start of December to $3.60, according to its wholesale acquisition cost, up from $1.68 previously.