Local pharmacies feeling the impacts of record national drug shortage
By Jenna Wilson
A recent report showed that drug shortages in the U.S. have hit an all-time high, impacting pharmacies across the country and locally.
The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists tracked a record 323 active drug shortages during the first quarter of 2024, surpassing the previous record of 320 shortages in 2014.
Patients who need medication every day have sometimes been forced to ration while holding out until the next prescription can be filled.
“A lot of times when we have a drug shortage, like we are having with a lot of medications right now, it puts a lot of stress on us to try and find alternatives that are affordable for the patient,” said JulieMarie Nickelson, a pharmacist at Roger’s Pharmacy. “It also puts a lot of stress on the patients to get the medications that they need.”
The drug shortage is caused by many reasons, such as manufacturing plants not being up to Food and Drug Administration code.
“Anytime there is something like that, medications get recalled and they’re not able to continue making any at that plant until they have met the FDA’s requirements,” Nickelson said. “It also puts stress on the entire supply chain for the other medications that are in the same class or similar to it, because then we’re using more of those products when the manufacturer wasn’t accounting for that surplus need.”
Pharmacists in the St. Joseph area are seeing several shortages for drugs that patients need — mainly ADHD medication, injectable diabetes medication and antibiotics.
“Unfortunately, it does mean that there are longer waits for these medications, but at least if we can even get some, that’s better than nothing,” Nickelson said.
In the meantime, local pharmacies are making sure they can fulfill as many prescriptions as possible despite the shortage.
“A lot of times when we’re made aware of a shortage by trying to fill a medication, we’ll go ahead and reach out to the doctor and inform them of the shortage,” Nickelson said. “That way we can give them some recommendations of medications in the same class that might be around the same price point. Of course, we don’t know the formula areas of all insurances, but we do our best to combat the issue before patients get here.”
