What is the root cause of the shortage and what is being done to address them? Is it a regulation problem or an evil corporation problem?
In: Economics
The amount of people prescribed these meds skyrocketed so it put a strain on the supplies, also transportation problems and people who don’t actually need the medication using it as well. I’m sure there’s more but I do believe that’s the gist.
It’s a manufacturing issue mixed with a significant increase in demand. Supply will normalise over the next 3 months.
Note that it is only really affecting lisdexamfetamine and not other alternatives.
Edit: Not sure why I’m getting downvoted, but here is formal information on the shortage and restoration timelines – [https://www.tga.gov.au/vyvanse-shortage](https://www.tga.gov.au/vyvanse-shortage)
At least in Australia there is no shortage of other ADHD medication than Vyvanse (lisdexamfetamine)
During covid regulations allowed people to get prescribed ADHD meds online rather than having to meet a doctor in person. This allowed a lot of people who have trouble keeping appointments (an adhd symptom) to get prescribed the meds, plus a lot of bad actors to get prescriptions they don’t need. This spiked demand in a crazy way. Because they are controlled substances, you can’t just make more. There is a long process to get more made
No it’s a commercial/marketing problem. BTW, there are chronic shortages of many types of medications, which you’re probably unaware of.
Some corporations have patents over their drugs. They are monopolies that regulate their output to maximize profits. Sometimes will even stop making a specific drug, switching manufacturing to more profitable medications.
Most drug manufacturers are monstrous multi national corporations that eliminated their smaller competitors from the marketplace. Now, they can raise prices as they wish.
Currently there is shortage of some diabetes medications. They stopped making them and nobody can force them to continue (or increase) the output.
Ironically, cheaper generic medications are also off the shelf! The low price makes them unprofitable to produce. The manufacturers shifted production lines to other, more profitable drugs.
Among cheap medications in short supply: nose spray, dermatological hair shampoo, Robitusin (cough syrup), even sterile hand wipes….These items were in abundance in every pharmacy in the past.
Edit: on top of that, some major retail chains in US are in deep trouble. Among them Rite Aid and CVS. They are also causing shortages and confusion, refusing to keep stock of any item that doesn’t sell like crazy.
APA have reviewed its diagnostic criteria in 2014 and it took some time for psychiatrists all over the world to change their diagnostic criteria and treatment appropriately. ICD-11 have only been completed in 2020, and it still have not been translated and validated in many major languages.
New diagnostic criteria means more people are considered to have ADHD now than in the past, when DSM-IV and DSM-IV-R and ICD-10 were around. Older versions for example didn’t consider the diagnosis of ADHD in adult age possible if said adult didn’t have a childhood diagnosis of the disorder.
Because some ADHD drugs are old enough to be available in generic forms as well and don’t sell for that much, companies are not interested in amping up the production. I can buy 60 pills of generic methyphenidate in my country for around 5 dollars. Contrast that with newer medication Venvanse (lisdexamphetamine) that costs ~60 dollars for 30 pills. I’ve never found any pharmacy that did not have Venvanse because of how much more they profit with that.
Pharma manufacturers are only allowed to manufacture a certain quantity of controlled substances in relation to other substances.
Anyone that asks for stimulants, except for very extenuating circumstances, is given it. Supply, demand.
Whether you have ADHD or not, taking therapeutic doses of stimulants improves your performance. The difference is those with ADHD have a higher baseline they will need to take to get that therapeutic dose.
Otherwise, these meds provide the same benefits to both groups. Everyone wants them. If you seek to engage in the rat race of life, if you don’t have this, you are just leaving productivity on the table. Every conceivable leader, politician, speaker, etc that has even the slightest desire to perform well is for sure using stimulants. It’s in the government, our legal system, education system, it is what coke was replaced with as it is way, way more effective and usable long term.
New York Magazine just had an article about this – the manufacturer is in a dispute with the FDA over record keeping, and one of their factories is largely shut down. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/adderall-shortage-adhd-medication-ascent-pharmaceuticals.html
The real reason, and you won’t see this on mainstream media is because, oh look, a tricycle!
There are a lot of assertions in this post, endorsed by apparent experts, saying that the problem is the supply, and also that the problem is the demand. If anyone can provide it, I would appreciate answers in quantitative terms. The supply of this class of drugs is either more than, less than, or the same as it was in some index year when there was not a problem, let’s say 2019. And by what factor. Same for prescriptions written. Since these are by and large controlled substances, there should be clear records.
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