Shortage of Viaspan Cold Storage Solution

The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists reports a shortage of Viaspan cold storage solution. It is used to make Belzer UW solution for perfusion of organs to be transplanted. First developed for the pancreas, it was also adopted for livers and kidneys and has been used for hearts and other organs. There are other choices now, but this one became very popular after it was developed by Belzer and Southard at The University of Wisconsin.