Missing medications. Reduced manufacturing or Stockpiling.

reply to post by PacificBlue


Thanks for posting the FDA list i see my Acetylcysteine Inhalation Solution is top on the list i have CF and this drug is very inportant to me and many others ..This med is on backorder and the company cannot provide an anticipate release date thats sad!

You're just now realizing there's been a shortage of drugs?

This started happening at least 2 years ago, and became widespread knowledge about a year ago. There's been multiple news articles, both mainstream and alternative.
theres already threads about this.

reply to post by sugarcookie1


I thought of you when I first saw the list.

This whole business just seems more than a bit odd. On the surface it looks like poor business management, but these people are way too savvy for that to be the real cause.

It is poorly concealed with weak excuses that leads anyone with a little common sense to quickly suspect collusion and manipulation.

I have chronic pain and have been put on a CII pain medication. I have been taking the medication for a few years and within the past 6 months, the pharmacy can no longer get 10mg oxycodone tablets. I have had to change my Rx to 2x 5mg tablets. Last time I filled my Rx, the pharmacy said they are having problems getting bottled tablets. They filled my Rx with blister packs (blister packs are typically used for nursing homes and hospitals). Also, 50% of my prescriptions can't be filled with the full amount of tablets. I often have to come back to get the rest of my Rx filled.

The pharmacy admitted they are having a very difficult time getting their allotment from the FDA. They said the government is cutting back on how many Oxycodone tablets can be dispensed per Pharmacy on a weekly basis.

Regarding the shortage of Tylenol.....

The makers of Tylenol, McNeil Consumer Products, have been plagued recently by numerous recalls and one of their manufacturing facilities located in Ft. Washington, PA is not producing any products at this time.
Tylenol Shortage

Its a problem here in the UK too..

It is actually killing people here..

They are putting the blame on pharma selling the drugs abroad for higher profits...

Drug shortage as phramacists sell medication abroad The lives of NHS patients are being put at risk because vital prescription drugs intended for British use are being diverted abroad for profit by wholesalers and pharmacists.

And in at least one instance a patient is reported to have died due not getting his drugs. The trade is worth tens of millions a year and has made a fortune for the companies involved. Drug suppliers and pharmacies with a license are allowed by EU rules to sell drugs abroad that are intended for UK patients. Although legal it is regarded as unethical by the Government, manufacturers and patient groups. According to IMS Health, a health consultancy, 11 percent of the 12,600 pharmacies in the UK are now engaging in the practice of selling drugs for the UK market abroad.

More than 85 per cent of the 322 pharmacists surveyed by the magazine Chemist and Druggist this week were "very concerned" that patients were being adversely affected by shortages. Drugs made in this country are produced - almost exclusively - for the UK market and selling them abroad has created major shortages. New research shows almost half of pharmacists say patients have suffered because of medicinal shortages and over forty per cent say they have seen a patient harmed because of the problem and had to go to hospital.One patient died after he took a week to get the medication he needed for an immune system disorder. Another recently transplanted kidney patient from Surrey waited days for here vital anti-rejection medicine.

Source

I dont buy it... I believe stock piling is going on and tptb know something we do not...

Good thread! A REAL conspiracy for a change!!

reply to post by MaddMaxx

They said the government is cutting back on how many Oxycodone tablets can be dispensed per Pharmacy on a weekly basis.

What are they using as criteria? Surely a small pharmacy in a rural area would require far less than a mega pharmacy in a well populated area.

Who is better equipped to determine the amount of any medication that a pharmacy needs to stock than the owner of the business or the person assigned the responsibility of inventory control. Are they now going to allocate medications by lottery rather than by need?

I can't see big pharma going along with this, after all, the pharmaceutical companies have huge pockets and the government officials and law makers are snugly tucked deep inside of all of them. So obviously what appears on the surface is only the opening of the rabbit hole.

A trip into that opening will probably land you on the galactic highway by way of Oz after making a right turn at the corner of Wonderland.

reply to post by sugarcookie1


I work in a Hospital Pharmacy in MO.. We have had lots of drug shortages for at least 2 years. HUNDREDS..They started out with all the drugs you need to save lives in a War or Natural Disaster, Pain killers, anitibiotics, anesthesia meds. We have trouble providing life saving drugs in our hospital. We are told they are not being made. Or something is wrong with the drug company manufactureing companies plants. It seems like they pick a few different drugs each month. It is only getting worse, every so often we do get supplies of our back ordered drugs. But not always and when we do they seem to be rationed. I do not see it getting any better.

I think they are being stockpiled for "SOMETHING"

Oxy is the new drug craze. People are getting 180+ pills a month because it's relatively easy to obtain a script for. It used to be primarily junkies getting the pills but more and more actual drug dealers are "legally" getting the scripts. They realize it's safer then buying hard drugs, is just as addictive and easier to get.

With privacy laws the way they are structured it is hard to track who is getting scripts and if people are dr shopping. The only way to really get caught is if the dr finds out and reports you to the local authorities which happens but is rare.

With this recent explosion it's no surprise that there is a shortage. The government knows its a problem but outside of a national registry of patients and an advance type of Id check they have no way or truly regulating it.

The most accepted rumor with adderal is that it's being reformulated.

And in at least one instance a patient is reported to have died due not getting his drugs. The trade is worth tens of millions a year and has made a fortune for the companies involved. Drug suppliers and pharmacies with a license are allowed by EU rules to sell drugs abroad that are intended for UK patients. Although legal it is regarded as unethical by the Government, manufacturers and patient groups. According to IMS Health, a health consultancy, 11 percent of the 12,600 pharmacies in the UK are now engaging in the practice of selling drugs for the UK market abroad.

Source

Who throws away that kind of money?

I agree with you. Those drugs are going somewhere and someone is paying dearly for them. This indeed makes a strong argument for stockpiling.

reply to post by NightSkyeB4Dawn


As far as I know im not sure that's accurate. I will find out though...

I know pharmacies have to account for every pill of a control going in or out but there isn't a limit.

I'll find out this week

Adderall by far. The name brand instant release is almost IMPOSSIBLE to get. I can still get name brand XR though. *knocks on wood*

Originally posted by hollwd
reply to post by sugarcookie1

 

I work in a Hospital Pharmacy in MO.. We have had lots of drug shortages for at least 2 years. HUNDREDS..They started out with all the drugs you need to save lives in a War or Natural Disaster, Pain killers, anitibiotics, anesthesia meds. We have trouble providing life saving drugs in our hospital. We are told they are not being made. Or something is wrong with the drug company manufactureing companies plants. It seems like they pick a few different drugs each month. It is only getting worse, every so often we do get supplies of our back ordered drugs. But not always and when we do they seem to be rationed. I do not see it getting any better.

I think they are being stockpiled for "SOMETHING"

This is what made me suspicious. The same thing is going on here.

I don't know if I agree with the stockpiling theory.

Many drugs have shelf lives and lose their effectiveness after awhile. Unless the stockpiling is for something not far away

Dec 21 2012!!!!!!!!!!! jk

I was a Pharmaceutical Sales Rep for over 16 years and called on many hospitals in 5 different states. 11 years ago, I ran into a Pharmacist in Wyoming that was a part of a National Emergency Stockpile group that stored large amounts of Antibiotics and other critical drugs that would be needed in a disaster or outbreak of infectious diseases. The interesting thing was that only a hand full of this group know where the stock pile of meds are located. He said that every state has similar stockpiles of critical medications. In this case, they were stockpiling a drug that I sold. I know for a fact I didn't get sales credit.

Get this, The state held enough product to treat over 250,000 citizens for two weeks. Enough for 50% of the total state population. That would be 3,500,000 doses of a Antibiotic that was already a billion dollar product in the public market. He sails every state has the same program. With certain products, I can see shortages develope if the government re-orderes expired dose packs.

As someone who worked in the Pharmaceutical industry for 8 years, I've got an inkling what is happening. I lost my job in 2010 in a round of layoffs. Was it the economy? No not really, it was the inability to compete with India and China. Most Pharmaceutical companies send their manufacture to China these days, as it's much cheaper. However, it is a flip of a coin as to the quality being good. I know we ordered raw materials several times, and got #e back (poor quality, less than promised, etc). Despite making my company several million a year (just by myself) they let myself and my direct boss (who'd worked for them for 30 years) "go" as we were too expensive to keep (the guys under me got to stay, as they did not cost as much), and our high tech lab was dismatled and moved to another part of the company.

So my guess is. these drugs are made in China, and shipped to the USA, if it was a "bad batch" they either had the manufacture make more, or had to "rework" it locally (and that takes time).

So basically it comes down to $$$$.

Originally posted by NightSkyeB4Dawn

My job places me in close contact with medical and pharmaceutical operations.
Several months ago I thought it unusual to see memos and postings that a commonly used medication was unavailable and on back order. The next month another frequently used medication was on backorder.

My initial response was that the hospital was just trying to save money and was doing short ordering and getting caught with its pants down. I forgot about it until a couple of days ago when a medication that is not only frequently used but is a main staple to almost every hospital, clinic and surgical center, was in shortage and on back order. Playing back over my memory it seems that there have been shortages of some medication almost monthly now for over six months, from my experience.

This is ATS. If there is something going on out there that we should be paying attention to, ATS is the place that will root out the conspiracy, if one exist.

Has anyone noticed recent medication shortages? If this is occurring on a large scale, maybe by looking at the types of medications that are suddenly going short and possibly being stockpiled, will give us an idea of what may be coming down the pike and give us an idea of what medications we should be adding to our medicine chests.

This may be just a response to the sad condition of our country’s financial status or it may another oddity in our everyday that is a clue to what may be hiding in plain sight.

reply to post by Noinden


Very interesting. Another ingredient to throw into the mix.

I just don't see the pharmaceutical companies losing money, ever. So I guess the only way we will ever find out the truth is........follow the money.

reply to post by NightSkyeB4Dawn


I told my pharmacist last fall (late September I believe) that I had heard there was a shortage of drugs, including ritilin which my wife takes for her MS. He told me that in fact at that time it was becoming difficult to get 3 other medications along with the ritilan. He further explained that the governement sets manufacturing limits for certain drugs and that those limits would soon be reached. Apparently, and according to the news then, these permits were let to expire. At the time, this made little if any sense, BUT WAIT... theres more...

Now that we know that as early as last summer China's pharmaceutical manfacturing industry had been for sometime failing inspections and more importantly ignoring several written warnings from the FDA regarding the quality of the drugs.

It appears clear now that the FDA chose to stop stockpiling the unsafe and potentially dangeroius drugs being produced in China, and according to my pharmacist recently, immediately transferred all manufacturing of pharmaceutical to India. BTW... he let me see a copy of the letter their pharmacy received from the FDA outlining this problem.

FYI, the sources for all this are in another of my posts here on ATS.

It'd be a good idea (please?) if people state that they have noticed a shortage in their area, to state their location. This information could be critical in figuring out exactly what is going on.

I think everyone who has some chronic illness should get busy on line now with research to figure out how they might handle it if their access to Rx medications goes away. Don't presume that alternatives may be available.

In other words, time to Grow Your Own...

I took every drug...
For my cat and dog and me...


Good ol' stuff!

heheheehehe

It's the Gov, drugging 10% of you up now.