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Why drugs like Adderall, antibiotics and flu medications are in short supply A
total of 295 types of drugs — everything from sedatives to children's flu
medicine — were in short supply in 2022, according to a new report from the U.S.
Senate Committee on Homeland Security.


HEALTH


IT'S NOT JUST ADDERALL: THE NUMBER OF DRUGS IN SHORT SUPPLY ROSE BY 30% LAST
YEAR

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March 23, 20237:18 AM ET

By 

Emily Olson

Enlarge this image

Children's flu medication was hard to come by in December 2022 as a wave of
respiratory viruses spread across the country. Mario Tama/Getty Images hide
caption

toggle caption
Mario Tama/Getty Images


Children's flu medication was hard to come by in December 2022 as a wave of
respiratory viruses spread across the country.

Mario Tama/Getty Images

It's not just your imagination: Drugs such as children's flu medication, common
antibiotics and ADHD treatments are getting harder to buy, according to a Senate
report published Wednesday.

Democrats on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee say the
number of new drug shortages rose by 30% between 2021 and 2022, an increase that
has had "devastating consequences" for patients and doctors.

Towards the end of 2022, a peak of 295 individual drugs were considered in short
supply — impacting treatment for everything from colds to cancer.


WHAT'S BEHIND THESE SHORTAGES?

The report says the pandemic stretched supply chains thinner, right when demand
for over-the-counter respiratory relief was spiking.


SHOTS - HEALTH NEWS


ADDERALL SHORTAGE FORCES SOME PATIENTS TO SCRAMBLE, RATION OR GO WITHOUT

But even before the pandemic, the U.S. had struggled to overcome essential
supply shortfalls. More than 15 "critical care drugs," such as common
antibiotics and injectable sedatives, have remained in short supply for over a
decade, the report says.

Reliance on foreign manufacturers is the top reason the U.S. struggles to head
off shortages, says Sen. Gary Peters, the Michigan Democrat who chairs the
Homeland security committee.

"Nearly 80% of the manufacturing facilities that produce active pharmaceutical
ingredients [...] are located outside of the U.S.," he said during a hearing
about the issue on Wednesday.




SHOTS - HEALTH NEWS


THANKS TO THE 'TRIPLEDEMIC,' IT CAN BE HARD TO FIND KIDS' FEVER-REDUCING
MEDICINES

That's also creating an "unacceptable national security risk," he says.

The Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response told the committee
staff that 90 to 95% of injectable drugs used for critical acute care rely on
key substances from China and India. In other words, a severe breakdown in the
supply chain could leave emergency rooms scrambling.


WHAT COULD BE DONE TO SOLVE THE DRUG SHORTAGES?

The report also found that the federal government and industry regulators lack
visibility into the supply chain for such drugs, making it harder to predict
shortages. The Food and Drug Administration doesn't know, for example, the
amount of starting material a manufacturer has available, or, in some instances,
how many manufacturers are involved in producing the final drug.

And even in cases where they do have this kind of data, they're failing to
retain it in ways that would help predict shortages. The data stays "buried in
PDFs," the report says. To fix this, the FDA could create a central database of
starting-materials levels and track production volume.

Committee Democrats are also recommending that a team of federal agencies pair
up to perform regular risk assessments on the supply chain, increase data
sharing requirements on private manufacturers, and then increase data sharing
between agencies and industry partners.



Increasing federal investments in drug manufacturing would also help wean the
U.S. drug supply off foreign countries, according to the report. That might mean
incentivizing domestic production or building academic-private partnerships to
advance research and development capabilities.

Peters said he's planning to propose legislation to try to make these long-term
recommendations a reality in the near future.

 * adderall shortage
 * Senate Homeland Security Committee
 * medication
 * drug shortages

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