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[prytania3]

So I got a prescription for Vyvanse. It's brand new and is expensive. I had a $20 copay, when I usually have $3 or $5. Anyway, if Vyvanse doesn't work, it's going to be dexedrine. We'll see.

[bibliothecula]

Pry, how are you doing? Is the replacement drug working?

[prytania3]

So far the Vyvanse is better than the Adderall. For one, it's like a freaking happy pill--or else it's pushed me into mania, but I'm mad focused with no procrastination. It's wild so far.

[tuxedo_cat]

So I've been listening to that Tom Ashbrook report, and it's a pretty frightening situation apparently for a lot of people undergoing chemo, of all things.  Yikes.  And a lot of injectables and liquid intravenous nutrition drugs also -- 19 people apparently died when a medical facility tried to administer what they assumed would be a safe substitute drug.  This report was from a few weeks ago, so I hope things have improved.

Glad to know the replacement is working so well, Pry!

[prytania3]

So I've been listening to that Tom Ashbrook report, and it's a pretty frightening situation apparently for a lot of people undergoing chemo, of all things.  Yikes.  And a lot of injectables and liquid intravenous nutrition drugs also -- 19 people apparently died when a medical facility tried to administer what they assumed would be a safe substitute drug.  This report was from a few weeks ago, so I hope things have improved.

Glad to know the replacement is working so well, Pry!

Damn. There's a chemo shortage? How the hell does this sort of thing happen? I thought it was specific to ADHD drugs.

[tuxedo_cat]

It's nuts.  It's all over the pharmaceutical market -- and of course it's much more likely to be generics since they have such a narrow profit margin.

Here's the blurb from the WBUR interview -- http://onpoint.wbur.org/2011/10/04/prescription-drugs:

There are currently 213 drugs in short supply nationwide, according to government statistics. It’s the result of a complicated series of factors that have kept some of the most-needed drugs from the patients who most need them.

“These are very common drugs, chemotherapy drugs, anesthesia drugs, drugs used in critical care units,” said Wall Street Journal reporter Jennifer Corbett-Dooren. “These are typically not the drugs that would be in short supply at the pharmacy counter.”

Many of the drugs that are in short supply are generic drugs that have been on the market for decades, she said.

What is means for doctors is a reduced ability to treat the seriously ill. “These are drugs that have been the mainstays of curative cancer treatment,” said Michael Link, President of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. “We can now cure almost 80 percent of children with cancer. But without these drugs, our hands are tied.”

“This is really a crisis for us,” Link said.

Michael O’Neal, pharmacist and Head of drug procurement at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center, agreed sand added that the shortage has been a long-term problem. “This is something that we’ve been dealing with for more than two years,” he said. “It has hit every corner of the hospital and it’s really created a lot of operational issues and safety concerns.”

Since many of the drug shortages stem from problems in factories overseas, some critics have called for greater government oversight. “We need to improve the FDA’s [Food and Drug Administration] overseas presence,” said Wells Wilkinson, staff Attorney with Community Catalyst, a national consumer advocacy organization advocating for a greater consumer voice in health. “40 percent of finished drug products come from overseas.”

And on the good news front, I didn't realize we could cure 80% of childhood cancers.

[oldfullprof]

God, I envy you guys.  A ritalin would have me in paradise.  Don't dare take anything like that, or I'd be hypomanic for sure.  Even a sudaphed has me flying.  I almost welcome headcolds because of them.  Make sure to take lots of calcium though, because those things can leech it right out of you.

My Effexor makes me too balsy by far.  It doesn't have the euphoria part-- not exactly.  But I had trouble sleeping when I frist went on it.

[alastrina]

Crap. I just read through the list. I guess that explains why I've had to pick the last 2 refills up at a different CVS, and this past time, instead of a 10 mL multi-dose vial, they gave me 10 1 mL vials. It's not like injectable cyanocobalamin is exactly something obscure.

[mended_drum]

According to a relative, who has a child with a very serious illness, there are quite a few drug shortages going on right now.  The other parents she knows are panicking.

Yes, my post above was about a cancer drug, two of them in fact.  It's really rough.

[prytania3]

I see Obama made an edict today about the drug shortage. I'm not sure exactly how that is going to help, but then I don't understand what the problem is.

[amlithist]

I listened to Diane Rehm's program earlier this week on this topic.  The commentators were really amazing--as was one fact they pointed out, which somehow I'd never heard:  there are NO US manufacturers of penicillin and cephalosporins anymore--I don't know about the other antibiotics.  But still, isn't this a national security issue (if the only thing that seems to get everybody's attention in DC is the fear of terrorism)?  I mean, take away antibiotics, and you have people dying, not just of anthrax, but of strep throat, a cut on the foot, a bladder infection.  And if all these are dependent on sources outside the US, why wouldn't terrorists just interrupt/destroy these supply lines?