Adderall Shortage

[mlmpetert]

Shits getting real. Apparently the main ingredient isnt being produced, but no one really knows why. Ive heard that the FDA can only produce so much of it each year but ive also heard narrowing profit margins have disincentivized manufactures. I wonder why profit margins for cheap drugs are falling?

Although many of you may laugh that people like me may not be able to get our ADD meds, I can assure you America’s production will decrease and college kid’s grades will suffer without Adderall keeping us focused! But the problem is actually much more severe as there has been a dramatic increase in drug shortages. Currently there are some 200 drugs in shortage compared with 56 in 2006. The one thing I cant figure out is why this is happening now, and no articles seem to give real answers. The common theme ive read for almost all of these drugs is that profit margins are very small and nearly all have generic equivalents. But no one talks about why profit margins are less now than they were in years past…. What the hell is going on?

Obama signed an Executive Order a few weeks ago to address the shortages, which heavily affect life saving cancer drugs. The problem is that it sounds like the EO doesn’t do anything but double the FDA’s drug shortage staff from 5 to 11 and encourage drug manufactures to notify the FDA when there are shortages coming. Apparently the manufactures don’t have to disclose reasons why they reduce the amount of a drug they make or stop producing it all together. Some are calling on the Federal government to fine manufactures, but many are worried that if that happens many manufactures will just stop making the drugs altogether, the thought being you cant be fined for something you don’t operate in.

I don’t want to just start blaming ObamaCare, but that seems like the only change from prior years. Apparently one of the changes in the 2011 was:

10. Pharmaceutical manufacturers will see the first major industry tax: a $ 2.5 billion tax based on sales. Drug companies agreed to this when the health reform bill was being formulated thinking that they would end up with millions more customers. But in the meantime, the tax may well lead to higher drug prices and shrinking budgets for finding new drugs.

What To Expect From ObamaCare In 2011 Page 2 of 2 - Forbes.com

This sounds like a value added tax to me and although most analyst thought that drug companies were going to just pass the tax on to consumers, like they do with all other taxes, perhaps pharmaceuticals are doing something far worse…. Just not producing the drugs that have low margins? I don’t know what to think, maybe this is even a pharmaceutical protest of sorts; take peoples drugs away and they’ll get pissed and blame Obama. Maybe there have been other changes not related to ObamaCare that are driving the costs down. Maybe drug companies don’t want to produce something if they think there is a better, albeit more profitable, alternative.

Either way when I first starting asking people and searching on the internet what’s going on back in March no one really seemed to know. There is a lot of info out there now, although still no good answers. I wouldn’t be surprised to see this become a major story in the next few months.

Some recent news, although all lacking good explainations as to why there is a shortage:

President's Executive Order on Drug Shortage Draws Mixed Reactions - ABC News

Economics Behind Cancer Drug Shortages | Care2 Causes

Doctors Group Supports Fight On Drug Shortages | Fox News