One Year Later, Where ’s All the Adderall?

The U.S. is facing a mystery of missing Adderall—one for which nobody has an answer. Oct. 12 marked one year since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s formal announcement that pharmaceutical companies were unable to produce enough Adderall, one of the common amphetamine-based medications for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). As a result, many of the 41 million ADHD patients nationwide who rely on the drug daily to stay focused and reduce impulsive behavior have faced refill delays and empty inventories at their pharmacies. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Eight drug manufacturers have reported shortages of Adderall, which also means other major ADHD medications are now in short supply after psychiatrists turned to other treatment options for patients. In a year with the highest rate of drug shortages reported since 2014, “this one really baffles me,” says Marta Wosińsk, a senior fellow and health care economist at the Brookings Institute. The scarcity of Adderall remains uniquely confusing, she says, not only because there is no plan to remedy it, but because the major players involved in making and regulating the drug have provided little explanation, choosing instead to point fingers at one another while the public is left to speculate. Experts say the FDA bears some responsibility for the ongoing shortage, as its lax reporting standards for manufacturers are the primary reason why there are still only...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized healthscienceclimate Source Type: news