ADHD Drug Shortages: Why?
Generic ADHD Drugs Hard to Find; DEA Raises Quotas in 2012
The shortage of ADHD drugs is a symptom of a larger problem facing the nation's drug supply. Supplies of many different kinds of drugs are becoming hard to predict.
According to IMS, a medical informatics firm, more than 80% of drug shortages are generics. Cancer drugs are particularly likely to be in short supply. They made up 28% of all shortages in 2010 to 2011, the FDA reports.
But it's not just cancer. There have been short supplies of drugs to treat infections, heart disease, nervous system disorders, and pain, IMS reports.
In October 2011, the FDA issued a special report on drug shortages. Among its findings:
ADHD Drug Shortages: Why?
Generic ADHD Drugs Hard to Find; DEA Raises Quotas in 2012
Shortage Points to Bigger Problem
The shortage of ADHD drugs is a symptom of a larger problem facing the nation's drug supply. Supplies of many different kinds of drugs are becoming hard to predict.
According to IMS, a medical informatics firm, more than 80% of drug shortages are generics. Cancer drugs are particularly likely to be in short supply. They made up 28% of all shortages in 2010 to 2011, the FDA reports.
But it's not just cancer. There have been short supplies of drugs to treat infections, heart disease, nervous system disorders, and pain, IMS reports.
In October 2011, the FDA issued a special report on drug shortages. Among its findings:
- From 2005 to 2010, the number of drug shortages tripled from 61 to 178.
- The leading reasons for drug shortages are problems at the manufacturing facility (43%), delays in manufacturing or shipping (15%), and shortages of the active ingredient (10%).
- "Just in time" manufacturing and inventory practices "leave little room for error."
- The vast majority of drug shortages -- 130 of the 178 shortages in 2010 -- were sterile injectable drugs.
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