Dissatisfaction grows as ADHD drug shortage continues

More than a year after the establishment of the Food and Drug Administration Adderall national shortage announced, doctors and patients say they still struggle to get medication to treat ADHD. Despite repeated promises by pharmaceutical companies that the supply shortage would be resolved soon, shortages persist and frustration is mounting.

Wendy Steele, 48, of Baltimore, said she has struggled over the past year to find a pharmacy that stocked the attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder medication prescribed for her and her 9-year-old son, Colton. .

Steele takes a generic version of Adderall. Mr. Colton takes a generic version of Concerta, which contains the same active ingredient as Ritalin. At times, we both had to take a break, delay, or no medication for several weeks. Steele said she believes the shortage is affecting Colton's schoolwork.

“I’m sick of it,” Steele said. “It's a nuisance for me, but it's very important medicine for his son. That makes me sad. His education is suffering.”

According to , more than 6 million children in the United States have been diagnosed with ADHD, one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Some may not know it, but millions of adults are affected as well. People with ADHD can: looks restless, you may have difficulty concentrating and act impulsively. Adderall and other ADHD medications can help people with the disorder improve concentration and reduce impulsive behavior.

Experts say high demand for the drug and claims by drug companies that they are limited in the amount they can make are fueling nationwide shortages.

In October 2022, the FDA announced I'm low on Adderall.

Since then, doctors say there have been shortages of other ADHD drugs, including Focalin, Ritalin and Vyvanse.

As of 2022, there were 107 U.S. companies involved in manufacturing ADHD drugs. To market research company IBISWorld.

Pharmaceutical companies publish estimates of when drugs will be back in stock, but those estimates are being postponed as they struggle with demand.

For example, Aurobindo Pharma, which makes a generic version of Adderall, estimated in June that some doses of the drug would be available in December, according to the FDA's drug shortage database, but the timeline was set for September. It is said that it will only be postponed for a few months. . Teva Pharmaceuticals, a leading manufacturer of ADHD drugs, has actually solved much of the Adderall shortage. But certain doses estimated to be available in October or December have been pushed back to February or May, according to the database.

Dr. Leonard Adler, director of the adult ADHD program at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York, says about 30 to 40 percent of prescriptions for ADHD medications need to be rewritten because pharmacies may not have them in stock. He said there is. Prescriptions cannot be transferred between pharmacies, so the doctor must issue a new prescription to the patient.

“I have some patients who have been off their medication for two or three months,” he says. “When I stop taking my medication, my symptoms come back, and then I forget to make a follow-up appointment. I have no way of knowing if this is happening.”

The shortage is a huge “burden” for people with disabilities, he added.

“It was pretty tough,” he said. “Alternatives may be difficult to find. They may require formulation changes or dosage changes.” However, the alternatives may not be generic drugs and may cost more for patients. He added that this is likely to be the case.

Who is responsible for the shortage?

Erin Fox, senior pharmacy director at the University of Utah Health, said drug companies and the Drug Enforcement Administration, which regulates controlled substances, are blaming each other for the issue.

Manufacturers of ADHD drugs claim they don't have enough raw materials to make the drugs and need permission from the DEA to make more. The DEA contends that drug companies are not meeting production quotas and can make more drugs if they wish. Adderall is a controlled substance regulated by the DEA, which places limits on the amount of active ingredient that pharmaceutical companies can produce in a given period of time. Before a pharmaceutical company exceeds its quota he must obtain DEA approval.

In August, the DEA and FDA issued a joint statement They are calling on drug companies that do not want to increase production to waive their allocations so other drug companies can produce more ADHD drugs. The FDA also said it is taking steps to provide alternative treatment options.

FDA approved in August to increase drug availability some generic versions of Vyvanse.

NBC News asked five major ADHD drug manufacturers for updates on their supplies. they didn't react. Additionally, the DEA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Experts say there isn't much else the FDA can do in the short term. FDA spokeswoman Chanapa Tantivanchachai said in a statement that the agency is working with “many manufacturers” and other companies in the supply chain to “understand, mitigate, and prevent” shortages. He said he was.

“FDA recognizes the potential impact that the unavailability of certain products can have on health care providers and patients,” she said.

According to , certain formulations of Adderall are also now more widely available. FDA Drug Shortage DatabaseHowever, authorities still list the drug as being in short supply.

Dr. Sarah Cheyette, a pediatric neurologist who treats both children and adults with ADHD at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, said January was a bad month for her patients.

Vyvanse remains difficult to obtain, she said, even though a generic version was recently approved. The same goes for Ritalin and Focalin.

He said patients have to go to multiple pharmacies to find their prescriptions, and in many pharmacies they are told the drug is on backorder.

Dr. David Goodman, director of the Maryland Center for Adult Attention Deficit Disorders, said the shortage is not as “a problem” for patients as it was a few months ago, but it hasn't eased yet.

He said he noticed that while the brand name version of Adderall was readily available, the generic version was difficult to obtain.

That's because many insurance companies only cover generic versions, prompting patients to grab them as soon as they hit the market, leading to increased demand and supply shortages, he said. He said that it might not be so. He said some insurance companies have recently started paying for brand-name drugs when patients can't get generic drugs.

Still, many patients are “frustrated,” he said, adding that some patients are having to wait two to four weeks to receive their prescriptions instead of the usual three to four days.

“You have to consider that people with ADHD have low frustration tolerance, and it's even lower if they're not taking medication,” said Goodman, who is also an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Stated. “Their ability to manage the situation and get it done is very diminished.”

Steele, of Baltimore, said in recent months she has started calling pharmacies about a week before her son's prescription expires to see if they have it in stock. Because ADHD medication is a controlled substance, a patient can only receive her prescription for 30 days at a time.

It was a “terrible” experience, she said, and it still sometimes takes weeks to get a prescription filled.

“When will this end?”