Virginia Democrat urges DEA, FDA to act on shortage of ADHD drugs

Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) has despatched a letter to the Drug Enforcement Company (DEA) and Meals and Drug Administration (FDA), urging each businesses to behave on the latest scarcity of ADHD medication. 

In her letter to DEA appearing administrator Anne Milgram and FDA commissioner Robert Califf, Spanberger requested the 2 businesses to collaborate on a complete federal response to make sure entry to Adderall and different ADHD medicines for People who depend on the medication. 

“The continuing scarcity has made it extremely troublesome for ADHD sufferers to handle their day by day lives, and I encourage your businesses to collaborate and do every thing potential to alleviate this scarcity as shortly as potential,”  Spanberger wrote in her letter.

“Shortages of important medication, particularly ones which have been in the marketplace for years, have been a persistent downside in our healthcare system for years. Drug shortages pose important challenges to the general public well being as a result of they delay take care of sufferers, frustrate suppliers who should prescribe alternate options which may be much less efficient or pose extra dangers to the sufferers, and expose customers to cost gouging by unscrupulous producers.”

The FDA reported in October that there was an Adderall scarcity attributable to ongoing manufacturing delays. Adderall is the model identify for the immediate-release formulation of amphetamine combined salts. 

Spanberger additionally requested data from each federal businesses on how they are going to work  independently and collectively to alleviate the scarcity.

“Sufferers who depend on Adderall to perform day by day deserve a complete federal response to make sure entry to their medicines,” Spanbrger wrote. “Given the difficult regulatory framework round managed substances and the incentives within the drug trade, addressing the scarcity of Adderall would require coordination between FDA, DEA, and trade.”

Spanberger’s letter, first reported by Politico, comes as Congress has relaxed restrictions on suppliers prescribing Schedule II managed substances, equivalent to Adderall,  by telehealth at first of the pandemic. 

This led to a rise in each consideration deficit hyperactivity dysfunction (ADHD) diagnoses and prescriptions for Adderall, as the overall variety of Adderall and generic-equivalent prescriptions noticed a 16 % from 35.5 million in 2019 to 41.2 million in 2021, based on knowledge from well being analysis agency IQVIA.

The Hill has reached out to the DEA and FDA for touch upon the letter.