As many as 180 medications are in short supply so far this year, according to data from the the Drug Information Service (DIS) at University of Utah Health Care, which has tracked drug shortages for a decade. DIS calls the number of shortages this year “unprecedented.”

Across the United States, life-saving or medically necessary drugs are in short supply, endangering care and increasing the odds of medication mistakes for a broad swath of patients. Health officials say drug shortages pose a growing public health crisis, fueled in large part by financial motives of pharmaceutical companies concerned about falling profits due to competition from low-cost generic products.