Shire doesn't want to be roped into the drug-shortage mess. So, after the news broke that a version of its best-selling ADHD drug Adderall is running scarce, it issued a statement disclaiming responsibility.
Adderall IR, the immediate-release formulation of Shire's attention deficit hyperactivity disorder treatment, may be running short, the company says. But Shire sold off the rights to Adderall IR in 2007. The formulation it still owns--Adderall XR, the extended-release version--is readily available, the company says.
"Adderall XR is available at pharmacies and current inventories of all strengths of Adderall XR are sufficient to meet patient demand," the company said in a statement (as quoted by the Boston Business Journal).
Sandoz, CorePharma and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries ($TEVA) all make generic versions of the immediate-release version, Shire said. But as the Business Journal notes, the Drug Enforcement Administration has said the shortage is due to distribution problems, not manufacturing capacity. The drugmakers say that DEA quotas are preventing them from keeping pace with demand, PharmaTimes reports.
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