Amid a nationwide shortage of Adderall and its generics, add two more companies to the growing list of those that are having difficulty supplying the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder drug.
Camber Pharmaceuticals and Sun Pharma are the latest to report supply problems, according to the University of Utah Pharmacy Services website, which tracks drug shortages throughout the U.S.
In addition, the nation's second-largest supplier of Adderall, Novartis' generics unit Sandoz is having increased difficulty with its supply. After reporting a shortage of extended-release Adderall in late August, Sandoz is now running low on the immediate-release version of the drug.
While the most recent nationwide shortage began two months ago, inadequate supply of Adderall has been an ongoing problem since 2019, with nine providers of the drug in the U.S. often struggling to meet surging demand. At present, seven of those suppliers are reporting shortages.
In early August, Teva told Bloomberg that a labor shortage on the company’s packaging line had triggered difficulty supplying 20-mg and 30-mg Adderall tablets. The company quickly resolved that issue but playing catch up took time, the company said.
With a drug that’s classified as a Schedule 2 controlled substance—because of the potential for it to be abused—companies have limits on how much they can manufacture, leading to ripple effects when shortages happen.
A few weeks after Teva reported its shortage, three other companies—Amneal, Sandoz and Purdue Pharma’s subsidiary Rhodes Pharmaceuticals—also had extended-release Adderall on backorder. Then last month, Par Pharmaceuticals and Lannett reported their own shortages, though the latter's issues have since abated.
Exacerbating the problem is an ever-growing demand for the drug, attributed to increased awareness of the condition, as well as the emergence of online startups that have made it easier to acquire prescriptions, Bloomberg said. Two of these companies, Cerebral and Done, are under scrutiny from the U.S. Department of Justice for possible violations of the Controlled Substances Act.