Q: A lot of Drug Stores are telling there consumers that they can only fill half of their Prescriptions due to a shortage in a number of drugs. Some are requesting the doctors to change your Prescriptions. Do you know what is happening on this shortage?
Laura
A: I checked in with Carilion Medical Center Pharmacist, James Black for some advice on this perplexing prescription predicament.
Possible reasons for the shortages include:
*Problems at manufacturing plant. This may involve procedural change, equipment failure, or even a fire destroying the plant.
*Demand exceeds supply, such as Tamiflu a few years back.
*Recalls-generally, when a few lot numbers of a drug are recalled, you can expect a shortage for that product. The shortage often seems to be greater in magnitude than expected.
*Raw material shortage.
Black says government regulations can also have an impact, “This occurs most frequently with schedule 2 drugs. A recent case in point may have been the immediate release adderall shortage the last few months of 2011. The government allows a certain amount of schedule 2 medications to be manufactured each year and when demand exceeds this allowed quantity, a shortage can occur.”
He says, pharmacists will get in touch with manufacturers for patients to see if there are different drug strengths available to use.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement