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CORNING, N.Y. (WENY) — A national shortage of Adderall has continued into the Spring months of 2023. The FDA first announced the shortage, back in October of 2022 when the world’s largest drug maker, Teva reported a production issue.
“The issue is there is really no constituencies in what strengths we are able to get in and when we are able to get them in. We are seeing a lot of patients have to shop around and see what pharmacies have the strength and then at that point it’s being able to get that strain in consistently,” said Clinical Pharmacist Mia Le.
The demand for Adderall has risen nearly 27 percent with prescription climbing to 35.5 million in 2019. Adults ages 22 to 44 have been a part of the growing need for the focus drug.
“I think it actually started with the 20 milligram Adderall’s. We were having trouble getting that so we were switching to the 10 milligrams. And then some were going from extended release to immediate release,” said Le.
One problem is pharmacies can only order a handful of controlled substance at a time.
“Right now, we are having trouble getting the extended-release strengths in. We do have some of the five, fifteens and i think twenties right now, but like i said it is very difficult to know if we are going to get it in consistently,” said Le.
For patients who use Adderall, Le suggests reaching out to your local pharmacy before having your doctor send in a prescription. Since, Adderall is a controlled substance, pharmacies cannot send prescriptions to each other as it directly needs to come from the providing physician.
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