Lack Of ADHD Med Ingredients Make Patients Jumpy; FDA, DEA Involved
Editor's ChoiceMain Category: ADHD
Also Included In: Pharma Industry / Biotech Industry
Article Date: 11 May 2011 - 2:00 PDT
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| Article Opinions: | 20 posts |
It seems there is a shortage of the ingredients needed to produce attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medications, and has sent some patients into a panic. The Food and Drug Administration discovered in March that they did not authorize enough of the active ingredients needed to produce medications such as Adderall and Ritalin to pharmaceutical manufacturers. These ingredients are highly regulated for their potential of abuse.
The shortages affect drugs that generated a combined 24.2 million prescriptions in 2010, according to data provided by IMS Health.
The Drug Enforcement Adminstration (DEA) regulates the active ingredients of some ADHD drugs as controlled substances. Shortages of drugs for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder have sent patients and their families on a hunt for pharmacies with drugs in stock or they are simply extending the dosages.
DEA spokesman Lawrence Payne said the agency has newly approved enough supply to allow for uninterrupted distribution of the drugs and it's up to manufacturers to allocate the ingredients among their various products.
Erin Fox, manager of the drug-information service at the University of Utah Hospital & Clinics explains:
"It's a huge inconvenience. Parents and patients are running around and calling pharmacies to see who has their product."
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, known as ADHD, causes children and adults to have difficulty focusing, controlling their actions and remaining still or quiet. ADHD drugs generally act as a stimulant to alleviate symptoms but can be habit-forming and associated with side effects such as increased heart rate and loss of appetite.
What is the pharma industry's response to this shortage?
Matt Cabrey, spokesman for Shire PLC, the maker of Adderall and generic versions, said rising demand for the drugs due to increased diagnoses of ADHD, which in turn may be fueled by greater awareness of the disorder, can make it difficult to forecast ingredient needs.
UCB SA's Brenda Varney, director of UCB's established-brands unit, said the company lifted production but recently ran out of immediate and extended release Metadate products, although it has a combination type in stock. UCB expects the products to be available by about May 20.
Novartis AG, who makes Sandoz and generic versions of methylphenidate, said it is manufacturing at capacity and trying to increase its supply. Spokesman Eric Althoff said the marketplace shortage has led to higher demand for its products.
A record 211 medications became scarce in 2010, triple the number in 2006, and at least 89 new shortages have been recorded through the end of March, putting the nation on track for far more scarcities.
Gordon Johnston, vice president for regulatory sciences at the Generic Pharmaceutical Association adds:
"We've certainly reached a very global supply chain for drug products, with the active ingredients typically made outside of the United States. It could be Europe, India and in some cases China. If there's a problem at a facility in Italy or India, it leads to disruption of the drug supply in the United States."
Although ADHD begins in childhood, sometimes it's not diagnosed until a person is a teen, and occasionally not even until someone reaches adulthood. Because ADHD is a broad category covering different things including attention, activity, and impulsivity, it can show up in different ways in different people.
Sources: The U.S. Food and Drug Adminstration, The Generic Pharmaceutical Association and The U.S. Drug Enforcement Adminstration
Written by Sy Kraft
Copyright: Medical News Today
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Visitor Opinions In Chronological Order (20)
Reliance on ADHD medication
posted by Ryan on 11 May 2011 at 3:20 amI believe that society relies on these medication to solve their children's ADHD problems. These shortages will force patients to counter ADHD with non-biomedical treatments. These ADHD medications are overly prescribed in the first place. With behavior or cognitive therapy you can counter this problem.
Symptom of something else
posted by Jack on 11 May 2011 at 3:53 amADHD so called diagnosis is the single most abused diagnosis. It's nothing but an excuse to drug kids up who don't need this stuff. These kids need more involved fathers. If you look at the majority of these kids, the parents are checked out and not involved with their lives, ESP the fathers. Kids don't need speed to calm them down, yes that is what this stuff I'd speed. This also stunts growth big time. This diagnosis cannot be proven by medical science either, it's the drug companies greed.
Seeking treatment from law enforcement?
posted by J on 11 May 2011 at 4:07 amNothing new here for those of us who are paying attention to such problems, but it really should concern the average American voter. What we see here is the increasingly common situation where disruption in medical treatment of any sort (ADHD is not the only place this is happening) is directly attributable to law enforcement's efforts to control supply and use of certain drugs.
The long arm of the law is reaching further and further across the boundary between drug warrioring and doctoring. They are testing the limits of what the public will tolerate, and the public appears to be asleep on the issue. It is a simple fact that many medicines which doctors use as legitimate treatments are the same drugs which drug warriors seek to control and essentially eliminate.
The drug warriors thus see denial of treatment as a success, and avoiding such disruption is not high on their list of priorities. As the drug warriors continue to collect larger and larger increases in funding from tax dollars, they move further and further into medical decision making. Chasing legal pharmaceutical drugs is easy, safe, and profitable for drug warrior bureacrats.
So, when faced with the question of what to do with windfall funding appropriations which are largely untethered as far as stipulated use, they can be expected to beef up their policing of medical usage and increase their involvement in making treatment decisions about your health based on their goal of controlling certain drugs.
Attacking doctors and legitimate medical professions who use drugs in their scientific approach to health care is not nearly as dangerous as fighting drug cartels across borders. Doctors usually don't fight back or even run, so storming medical offices in SWAT gear for fun and profit is a game which carries little or no risk. Americans have lost their ability to protest abuse of authority, there are relatively few negative consequences for interfering with medical care.
Like any skilled bureaucracy attempting to grow itself and provide more and more lucrative careers for more and more people, they have learned that turning their terror on law abiding doctors and sick people is profitable, safe and easy. They are moving slowly, and they pause for political damage assessment after each offensive, but they are largely proceding unopposed into the field of medical decision making.
Since there is essentially no complaint, they continue to expand into the domain of "playing doctor". Americans really should consider putting a stop to this. The next time you are sick, and you think about trying to obtain medical treatment, you should ask yourself how big of a role you want a police officer or a drug enforcement bureaucrat to have in the decisions about your treatment and health.
Remember, the medical professional has a duty and a goal to protect and enhance your health. Drug warriors do not. Their goals do not involve your health. And there seems to be increasing tolerance for "collateral damage" from their efforts to grow their bureaucracies and take over the medical and pharmaceutical fields as absolute dictators of policy with little responsibility for public health.
william
posted by William on 11 May 2011 at 4:22 amWhat no drugs for the children. What shall we do?
Seriously?
posted by Rachel on 11 May 2011 at 6:58 am@Jack (and others)- My father was incredibly involved - he remained married to my mother until his death, just shy of their 45th anniversary. I was an only child who never lacked for attention, love, support, or discipline.
To hear my parents, teachers, and other adults who were around at the time tell it, I was always a well-behaved and carefully brought up young woman.
And yet, I have ADHD. It shows up on MRIs, and has been confirmed through extensive testing by several doctors (as I'm also pretty careful with my health). I regularly take a high dosage of Ritalin.
In other words, folks, don't make assumptions about conditions you know nothing about while assuming that the only folks with it are kids who a) won't see what you said, and b) won't call you on your misconceptions and/or deliberate trolling.
Oh, and as for Ritalin "stunt[ing] growth big time" - I'm 5'10. They said the same thing about coffee when I was growing up.
ADHD
posted by kim on 11 May 2011 at 7:00 amI HATE that my son now in High School has had to take these meds since kindergarten!
He was born at 7 months after my appendix burst and I am told preemie boys are highly likely to be hyperactive and he is.
My problem is that yes he is hyper but respectful (the teachers have always said this also) and behaves beside getting over excited sometimes. When at home and over the summer I don’t give him meds and he is fine somewhat hyper but not overly, I just say a few words to him and he realizes and stops he is a great kid never had a problem with him so I get upset I have to drug him to go to school.
I understand it is easier for the teaches if kids just sit in their chair and stare straight ahead but this is just wrong.
Some kids need meds but why are they drugging so many?
Danny
posted by Daniel on 11 May 2011 at 7:55 amThank you Rachel - Folks need to realize that there are a huge number of adults that take these meds for completely legitimate reasons, it's not only kids
Most of you have no idea how important these drugs are
posted by Ryan on 11 May 2011 at 9:28 amI am a 33 year old who started taking adderall about 5 years ago. Words cannot describe how my life changed for the better. I have been able to master my craft and work consistently on improving, where before I was rather useless.
I am healthy and actually a bit over my ideal weight. I have no trouble sleeping or eating. I exercise on a regular basis and have had no emotional issues whatsoever.
If other individuals do not need these drugs they have no right to keep them from those of us who do. My life would be much less enjoyable if I were to return to my unfocused, exhausted, unmotivated ways.
To the first Ryan
posted by Dave on 11 May 2011 at 10:04 amI am glad you are so pharmaceutically pious. The view from your high horse must be WONDERFUL.
Newsflash: CBT will do NOTHING for a real case of ADHD in a 9 year old. You can't reason with him/her to just "do what you know is the right thing" while in a classroom setting. I tried fighting medications for years but finally, after exhausting all other options, reluctantly put my child on a medication that I, too, in my ignorance believed was unnecessary.
The difference is night & day now and I am thankful my child can take this medication, though I am looking forward to the day he is mature enough to manage himself without it (I really do hope that day comes). Sure the medications are over prescribed as teachers these days do not want the responsibility of dealing with disruptive children. However, these medications are a necessity for some children and it's been getting ridiculous that I have to drive all over town to find the one pharmacy that got a shipment of this medication this month. It's absurd that we got to this point.
Who Cares
posted by Patricia on 11 May 2011 at 12:44 pmThe drugs work for some people with ADHD and ADD, but not everyone agrees. I took Ritalin for my ADD and it did work until I became a teenager. Learning to just deal with mental problems like ADHD and ADD without medicine is easier my cousin has ADHD and so does two of her kids. She has refused to give them any drug for their ADHD and it works. Good parenting helps out in the long run. Children do not need these drugs to focus on school work, just good learning habits. So who cares if these companies run out.
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