Drug makers the world over are having trouble keeping up with demand. Best Values Pharmacist Melissa Magnanti says if a problem can be solved with a pill it's in high demand. Adderall and weight loss medicines like Ozempic and Wegovy can be tracked down.
"For us right now, one of the biggest ones is Adderall, and and all strengths of it, including extended release are pretty impossible to get," Magnanti tells KTRH News.
These are among the medications people are struggling with:
- Adderall.
- Albuterol sulfate (used in inhalers for patients with lung diseases like asthma)
- Amoxicillin (oral powder suspension)
- Dulaglutide (Trulicity), used to treat diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
- Semaglutide (Ozempic and WEGOVY), used to treat diabetes and obesity.
A recent Congressional hearing revealed that a "race to the bottom" in price disincentivizes investment in manufacturing. Two types of chemotherapy are hard to fill prescriptions for. There are more than 300 drugs in short supply, the highest since 2014., according to the American Society for Health-System Pharmacists. Magnanti says the problems go beyond the U.S. reliance on imports. "No, I don't believe. I think it's mostly because word of mouth, mostly the weight loss medication; if we can get an easy answer to a problem we're going to do it."
The very common antibiotic amoxicillin can also be hard to get.
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