It has been 6 months since the FDA has first announced a shortage of the ADHD medication, Adderall. We spoke with a local Pharmacist to find out where the shortage stands. We also talked with those impacted by the shortage.
Adderall shortages have been affecting people of all ages by making it harder to access this life-changing medication. Adderall is a name-brand medication with a chemical makeup that puts it in the Amphetamine class of drugs. It is used to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and typically helps patients with their ability to pay attention and complete tasks. The FDA announced the shortage 6 months ago and it is still going on.
John Pastorek, Pharmacy Director at Mainline Pharmacy saying: “It’s been going on for at least the past few months. It’s been tough, we’ve been getting a lot of calls. There’s a lot go shortages we’ve talked about over the past few months about different drugs, but the Adderall one has another layer of complexity to it because of regulations.”
The FDA shows that there are still many product availability issues when it comes to Adderall and other drugs like it. They cite reasons such as an increase in demand and shortages of active ingredients. Pastorek adding: “There’s a lot more that goes into it with record keeping, verification, productions, all along the lines and I think that’s probably a big reason why the shortage has lasted so long and has been so severe.”
Gwendolyn Noonan was diagnosed with ADHD over ten years ago in High School, but has only been prescribed Adderall in the last 5 years. Noonan saying: “Recently, last year I was trying to fill a prescription and haven’t been able to fill it since November of last year. It was prescribed to me and I’ve been waiting for it to be in stock at my local pharmacy.” She tells us that it’s been difficult to manage while she waits for her prescription and that for some people, Adderall is the only option. Noonan adding: “I haven’t had much luck with generics working in the same way that Adderall has for me. It’s impacted my life by not being able to be as productive. Adderall helps me calm down and center and focus myself so it’s also a nervous system thing and I’ve been a lot more anxious and less able to go about my day, get my work done. I’ve been using a lot more life management skills as a way to sort of do intentionally things that come really naturally to others and also to me when I’m able to be on my medication.”
The FDA shows that some Adderall dosages will be back in stock in May and June of this year.