One of the most expensive problems facing the healthcare industry is drug shortages. According to a June 2025 survey by health services company Vizient, they spent about $900 million and 20 million hours of work per year in the United States.
Angels for Change, a Florida-based nonprofit organization, is trying to solve that problem.
Former business professor Laura Bray founded the organization in 2019 after being told that a young girl undergoing cancer treatment could not be used as a life-saving drug being received. She was able to get it in the end, but Bray aimed to help other families avoid going through similar scenarios.
“Our mission is to end drug shortages through advocacy, awareness and resilient supply chains,” Bray told Healthcare Brew. “No one prioritized it because of a lack of awareness, and we didn't provide the solution that we're in every other supply chain, so we need to build that solution.”
In April, the government's Accountability Office issued a report that drug shortages are a “severe public health issue” and recommended that the Department of Health and Human Services work with other federal agencies to mitigate the issue.
Angels for Change is funded by a variety of grassroots initiatives, including the annual gala, grants and donations, and partnerships with healthcare companies such as Pfizer, Frecenius Mold and McKesson.
Angels for Change is made up of four employees, including Bray and volunteers. Since 2022, nonprofits have tackled over 100 drug shortages, including insulin, growth hormone and the chemotherapy drug carboplatin, which has helped patients access over 750,000 drugs, according to the 2024 Impact Report.
How it works
Angels for Change runs the Drug Deficiency Hotline.
Nonprofits usually hear from around 10 patients a week, Bray said, but that's different. For example, in late 2024, when Hurricane Helen wiped out the Baxter manufacturing plant, which produced IV fluid and caused a nationwide shortage, Bray said that at that point, the Angel changes received 60 to 100 calls every day, adding that they would deal with everyone.
By the time patients call, Bray is usually already aware of the shortage, she said. But “If they first notify me, the first thing I do is tell them they deserve better, and I will also verify that this is true,” she added.
The process of connecting patients to medication can take several minutes, but for others it takes several hours, Bray said. As the shortage becomes more complicated, she spends time educating patients in shortage situations and gives them measures they can take to make sure they are still undergoing treatment.
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For example, there may be only one shortage of a drug dosage or formulation, so Bray encourages patients to ask their doctor if they can switch to the available options.
“There may be a shortage, but that doesn't mean there's a stop, it's a big difference,” she said. “I show them where they can find real-time government-approved data that they can share with doctors and pharmacists to advocate for themselves.”
According to Bray, the nonprofit has managed to get patients back 98% of the time.
Before the shortage
In addition to helping patients access already low-supply medications, angels for change try to ensure that shortages do not occur in the first place.
Marta Wosińska, a senior researcher at the Economic Research at Brookings Center on Health Policy, told Healthcare Brew that many of the working angels for change are focused on building financial invasions of critical drugs to set up a system in which supply chain disruption occurs and drugs are assigned to patients most needed.
“I think it's a niche place where Laura was very effective in collaborating with the industry,” Wosiska said.
According to Bray, the hospital reaches out to the Angels to warn of supply disruptions, warning them to warn of supply disruptions, and the organization works with various stakeholders to try to mitigate the issue. She said the nonprofit is tackling the chaos about three times a week on average.
Angels for Change also runs two programs called Project Protect and Project Gold (Generic Oncology Lifesaving Drugs), focusing on tackling some of the biggest challenges in the drug supply chain.
According to Bray, Project Protect is providing grants to US-based manufacturers to help build flexible capabilities related to drugs vulnerable to shortages. That way, if a shortage occurs, manufacturers can start producing these drugs on land and take them to hospitals, she said. The organization has given 13 such grants so far, totaling $434,599.
Project Gold works with manufacturers to create buffered inventory for pharmaceuticals. So far, three pharmaceutical companies (Cencora, McKesson, and Fresenius Kabi) have said they hope that this kind of active job will “close” her drug shortage hotline.
“One of the six (oncologic drugs) is lacking, and so far, there has been zero disruptions during this shortage, the patient's impact is zero, they can be involved, and there has been additional time and flexibility in that medication,” she said.
