Adderall, a popular medication for treating attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), is difficult to get in some pharmacies due to Teva Pharmaceuticals’ labour shortages.
However, according to the American Food and Drug Administration, there isn’t a general scarcity of ADHD drugs.
According to FDA spokesperson Cherie Duvall-Jones, only Teva has reported supply issues.
The producer of Adderall tablets, Teva Pharmaceuticals, reported projected delays for the following two to three months, she said.
The delay, according to Teva, was caused by a labour shortfall on its packaging process, which has already been fixed. The business noted that while backorders may exist at some pharmacies, they ought to be brief.
According to a statement from a spokesperson, Kelley Dougherty, “We expect full recovery for all inventory and orders in the coming weeks, at which point we expect no disruption at the pharmacy level,” according to NBC News.
Large pharmacy chains have not observed a widespread issue. According to CVS and Walgreens, respectively, their “current supply is fulfilling our patient needs at this time,” and their stores “are not seeing supply concerns for Adderall.”
However, there are shortages in tiny pharmacies: 64% of the 360 independent drugstores surveyed by the National Community Pharmacists Association between July 25 and August 5 reported having trouble obtaining Adderall.
Some dosage types of the medication have proven to be more difficult to obtain than others, according to Byron Olson, owner of Roger’s Family Pharmacy in Yankton, South Dakota.
He stated that individuals who take 20 milligrammes (mg) twice a day, for example, could need to utilise other amounts. “It’s commonly that they’re not out altogether,” he said. He added that patients could occasionally need to switch to a different drug.
Patients may find it frustrating because they are unaware of the shortages, according to Olson.
Owner Keith Lyke of Killingworth Family Pharmacy in Killingworth, Connecticut, told NBC News that he has been receiving customers from other pharmacies who were unable to complete their prescriptions for Adderall. However, he claimed that it has been simple to obtain generic medications from other manufacturers.
He continued, “We tell them that’s a different company, so it may appear different.
The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore’s assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioural sciences, Dr. David Goodman, encouraged Adderall users to expect problems with prescription refills and to work with their doctors and pharmacies to find alternatives.
“It changes at random. We may be moving along smoothly when a scarcity occurs “He spoke to NBC News.
In the worst-case scenario—a patient who is unable to obtain any medication—the scarcity typically doesn’t endure for very long.
“Typically, it only takes a few days or a week,” he remarked.
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For additional information on ADHD, go to the American Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
REFERENCE: NBC News
