- cross-posted to:
- usa@lemmy.ml
- cross-posted to:
- usa@lemmy.ml
Something very very wrong is happening with pharmaceuticals all around the US right now. No one is saying anything and every organization is pointing fingers at each other, but there is a massive shortage of a huge range medication, ranging from Tylenol, Zyrtec, and Advil all the way to antibiotics, Adderall, Chemotherapy drugs, and Diabetes medication. People with debilitating illnesses and disorders like Type 1 Diabetes and ADHD are being left high and dry without any answers other then pharmacies saying that they are on “backorder” (I.e. They’re all out).
Its not just one company either, for example in the case of Adderall-Dextroamphetamine, in a worst case scenario it can be substituted with other drugs of a completely different makeup such as Vyvanse or Ritalin which are produced by different companies. The one problem is that they are ALL out of stock. On top of this, because a vast majority of these drugs are held in copyright, many of them do not have generic forms, and other companies are not legally allowed to try to develop them.
Something is going very wrong and it seems like the US pharmaceutical industry is collapsing. I’m very scared what this means for people that rely on medication. Diabetes? Hormones for transitioning? Heart medication? Chemotherapy? What happens to those people?
Look at the link… 233 medications already are gone.
looks like there nearly as many shortages listed before the pandemic; 210 in late 2019: https://web.archive.org/web/20190829140928/https://www.ashp.org/drug-shortages/current-shortages/drug-shortages-list?page=CurrentShortages
Not arguing that the current situation is a disgrace, though. Private industry can’t provide for people’s needs and we’re not allowed any alternatives.
Granted that is true, but shortages of uncommon medicines happen in a private care based system where medicine has to be profitable . However what is even more concerning is that basic pharmaceuticals like Tylenol, antibiotics, Adderall/stimulants, morphine, and anesthetic are in shortage. That is a terrifying reality.