[Cieplak]

A similar thing is happening with generic chemotherapy drugs. Profit margins for generics are thin, so few companies manufacture them. When a supply issue arises, distributors stockpile the drug and charge hospitals one or two scales of magnitude of the generic price.

[cperciva]

... which is a perfect example of why we need derivatives markets. If hospitals purchased drugs a year in advance of anticipated demand, they would pay a slight premium, but wouldn't be subject to squeezes like this.

[jcdreads]

...unless Goldman stopped selling derivatives on chemotherapy drugs and instead began to stockpile a large fraction of the available chemotherapy drugs in warehouses in Detroit.

[Cieplak]

You are absolutely correct that futures or call options could ameliorate this issue.

However, I think stockpiling cancer drugs is a market distortion, which might justify government intervention in the form of price ceilings for various generic drugs.