Who Handles Complaints About Drug Shortages?

December 7, 2011 12:51 PM

We're all suffering from the Adderall Shortage of 2011 - even those of us who actually have legit prescriptions (raises hand!) whose work is starting to suffer as a result. I've read a lot of articles and still have no idea why the shortage exists - and at this point, I don't really care. I just want to know who to complain to. What agency/person/organization would be most "helpful" after receiving my thoughts on this shortage? This is in NJ, but it's a nationwide shortage, so, I'm sure other people need to complain too.
posted by bfu to Law & Government (7 answers total)

Well the FDA has a page about it, and it looks like they keep track of pretty much every reported drug shortage, so that's a place to start. Critically, the page has the phone numbers of all the manufacturers, so you can certainly give them a holler.
posted by valkyryn at 12:57 PM on December 7, 2011 [1 favorite]

You would want to complain to:
1.) DEA, they allow quotas for manufacturing. They claim they are not responsible for the shortage, but others have raised questions about allocations provided.
2.) Your congress members, they have a hand on agencies, and big pharma regulations.
3.) Health and Human Services department.
4.) Possibly the new consumers agency.
posted by handbanana at 12:57 PM on December 7, 2011

Among other things, it's a treatment for various vascular malformations, and it's also the antidote to methanol ("wood alcohol") and antifreeze poisoning.

OP, 2nd-ing the FDA and DEA. I'd also try contacting Shire (the pharma company who makes Adderall).
posted by kataclysm at 1:08 PM on December 7, 2011

Best answer: According to this the DEA claims there's not a shortage from their POV (all they care about is the raw ingredients), and that the issue is with the manufacturers and their supply/manufacturing chains.
posted by jferg at 1:12 PM on December 7, 2011 [2 favorites]

Not super relevant, but as far as I've heard, the shortage seems to be for generic version, not the "brand name" stuff, so there's a starting point. (And tomorrow I will drop off my new prescription for generic Adderall XR and see what happens.)
posted by catatethebird at 4:02 PM on December 7, 2011

Barr/Teva is a manufacturer of the generic (are there multiple?). Worth a call, I guess. Though my friend called them the other day and they claimed it was due to a shortage of raw ingredients (which they said were imported from Israel). The real question I guess is, "So what did your company/organization do today to fix this problem?"
posted by unknowncommand at 4:38 PM on December 7, 2011

Best answer: Shire bought up all the raw ingredients allowed by DEA quotas so that generic manufacturers cannot synthesize as much as they ordinarily do. This is because those heartless pharma fuckers are pimping Vyvanse.
posted by solipsophistocracy at 5:20 PM on December 8, 2011