About 1 in every 10 people in the US who uses Adderall or similar combination drugs to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has been affected by an ongoing shortage, a new analysis suggests.
The US Food and Drug Administration announced that Adderall was in shortage in mid-October 2022, and the share of people with ADHD who filled their prescriptions for Adderall and related medications plunged in the following months.
In an exclusive analysis for CNN, data from the health data platform Truveta shows that the prescription fill rate for amphetamine/dextroamphetamine medications fell from nearly 49% in October 2022 to a low of less than 41% in February 2023. Overall, the average monthly prescription fill rate was 11% lower in the first half of 2023 than it was in the first half of 2022, and it did not show steady signs of improvement through the end of 2023.
Manufactured shortage. Government shut down one of the largest manufacturers of it for reasons related to the accounting of other pills that manufacturer made, and they’re refusing to follow through with the companies efforts to move forward and rectify the situation. This is the government cracking down on purpose.
It’s 100% a manufactured shortage however the cause is from bits and pieces at every step of the supply chain. The manufacturers don’t want to produce any more than absolutely necessary to keep the DEA happy and distributors and pharmacies do not want to order anything unless they have an active script in hand. This means there’s no buffer for additional demand even though there has been an increase of diagnosis of ADHD.
If we want the shortage to end the DEA needs to relax and stop worrying about diversion to such an extreme level as that would allow every level of the supply chain to have a buffer to keep up with demand.