Aussie lives at risk as critical medications disappear from shelves amid national shortage crisis
- Replies 15
Imagine living with a chronic illness, relying on vital maintenance medications to manage your symptoms and maintain a decent quality of life. Now, imagine those medications suddenly disappearing from store shelves and pharmacies, leaving you in a desperate search for a lifeline. Unfortunately, this nightmare scenario is currently playing out for many Australians as a national shortage of crucial pharmaceuticals hits home.
One concerned Aussie recently took to Reddit to raise the alarm about the shortage of Ditropan (also known as oxybutynin) and other medications, wondering why there seemed to be little to no media coverage of the crisis. As it turns out, they're not alone in their struggle to access life-sustaining drugs, with reports of shortages and supply issues affecting patients across the country.
They said: ‘My wife has MS. As a result, she needs a lot of medications. One of those is a continence drug called Ditropan. It is THE gold standard for continence drugs. Anyway, Australia ran out of stock about two months ago and the best estimate is that it won’t be available again until mid-December.
‘The alternative drugs just don’t work as well – thus, there are currently hundreds of thousands of Australians with continence issues who are now forced into wearing adult diapers as a result of this shortage because the country is COMPLETELY out. Not even hospitals have any left. I was talking to a doctor friend about this and she confirmed the hospitals are out too, but she also said she’s hearing about issues with other drug supplies as well (diabetes, for example).
‘Are others also affected by the Ditropan issue, or other medications? Would be good to hear from others if key medications are suddenly scarce, or other items you’ve noticed.’
They continued: ‘This takes away my wife’s ability to control a basic function of life, strips her of dignity with wetting herself/bed requiring diapers and is putting a huge additional physical strain on her as she needs to go to the bathroom far more often, making her very tired (and fatigue is a huge issue in MS already). If there are broader supply chain issues facing medical supplies, it would be good to understand what is ‘at risk’ produce.’
Aussies are finding it difficult to get medications that are necessary in the management of their conditions. Credit: Polina Tankilevitch/Pexels
Other Redditors shared similar frustrations in procuring drugs they or their loved ones rely on.
A parent shared: ‘One of our daughter's epilepsy medications called Keppra is always a gamble. We keep two unopened bottles in stock, but often, the pharmacy has it on backorder. At one point during 2020, there was no stock available for 3 months and we were a week away from taking her into the hospital to access their stash. We found one pharmacy that had the only stock in all of SEQ – they had multiple families driving 3 hours or more to come and get a bottle.’
Another commented: ‘My wife is on Ditropan because of Parkinsonism, so we felt the shortage of that drug. The doctor put her on a patch that has the same medication and that did work but she has trouble keeping patches on, they don't stick very well to her skin. The upshot of that is we burned through a lot of patches. However, our local chemist can now get Ditropan in, so we have the pills back now. I had to get a new prescription for it but we got there in the end. Basically, I kept asking the chemist when they expected it back in so we learned about it being available pretty quickly.’
A Redditor wrote: ‘My mother has diabetes and usually takes a weekly injection called Trulicity. All pharmacies I have called say it is out of stock and has been for about a month.’
Another user whose parent uses Trulicity, a drug for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, commented: ‘Same, my mother said she can't get hers until at least December probably. She had to go back on metformin, and she's losing a ton of progress on her health. It's heartbreaking and I don't know what to do other than despair.’
Some psychotropic medications are also harder to find: ‘There have been shortages on some antidepressants recently, which is terrifying. Ceasing them abruptly has awful side effects and you can't just switch types if yours is out of stock.’
The situation has become so desperate for some, it’s forcing them to think outside the box: ‘I've been in a situation like yours, where a partner needs a drug for quality of life issue. I ended up (long story) speaking with the manufacturer overseas, speaking with the local importers, and eventually was put onto another importer who was in the process of getting an alternative brought in. Might be worth keeping your ear out for anyone importing the same thing from another source.’
The Guardian previously reported on the ‘dire’ shortage in Australia of more than 300 medications, including those typically prescribed for diabetes, hormone replacement, depression, nausea, and stroke. While drug shortages happen occasionally, the pandemic has exacerbated the situation as it has affected global supply chains. The then-president of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners Karen Price said: ‘What we’re finding is that we’re suddenly getting patients saying I can’t get that medication or the pharmacist has changed it, so this is becoming an increasing problem.’
The problem is international – several countries in Europe are also facing shortages in widely used medications – but the impact is perhaps more felt in the country because Australia is highly dependent on imports for its supply. As much as 90 per cent of medications in the country are imported, mostly from the US and Europe. Manufacturers, in turn, rely on China and India for the production of active ingredients.
There are section 19A medications, which are drugs not on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods (ARTG) but are approved for import and supply in Australia in cases of shortages. However, they are not always affordable to the people who need them.
Last year, the federal government made an agreement with the pharmaceutical industry in an effort to mitigate the effects of drug shortages in Australia. The ‘Minimum Stockholding Requirements’ will require manufacturers to hold a minimum of either 4 or 6 months of stock in Australia for certain PBS-listed medicines. However, it won’t take effect until July 2023, and others have expressed disappointment that it took this long to come up with the deal.
In the meantime, Ditropan remains in short supply. The shortage is expected to be resolved by 19 January 2023, a month after the original estimate of mid-December. You can find other medications affected by the shortage on the Therapeutic Goods Administration database.
Are you affected by the national shortage of select pharmaceuticals? We’d love to hear about your experience in the comments.
One concerned Aussie recently took to Reddit to raise the alarm about the shortage of Ditropan (also known as oxybutynin) and other medications, wondering why there seemed to be little to no media coverage of the crisis. As it turns out, they're not alone in their struggle to access life-sustaining drugs, with reports of shortages and supply issues affecting patients across the country.
They said: ‘My wife has MS. As a result, she needs a lot of medications. One of those is a continence drug called Ditropan. It is THE gold standard for continence drugs. Anyway, Australia ran out of stock about two months ago and the best estimate is that it won’t be available again until mid-December.
‘The alternative drugs just don’t work as well – thus, there are currently hundreds of thousands of Australians with continence issues who are now forced into wearing adult diapers as a result of this shortage because the country is COMPLETELY out. Not even hospitals have any left. I was talking to a doctor friend about this and she confirmed the hospitals are out too, but she also said she’s hearing about issues with other drug supplies as well (diabetes, for example).
‘Are others also affected by the Ditropan issue, or other medications? Would be good to hear from others if key medications are suddenly scarce, or other items you’ve noticed.’
They continued: ‘This takes away my wife’s ability to control a basic function of life, strips her of dignity with wetting herself/bed requiring diapers and is putting a huge additional physical strain on her as she needs to go to the bathroom far more often, making her very tired (and fatigue is a huge issue in MS already). If there are broader supply chain issues facing medical supplies, it would be good to understand what is ‘at risk’ produce.’
Aussies are finding it difficult to get medications that are necessary in the management of their conditions. Credit: Polina Tankilevitch/Pexels
Other Redditors shared similar frustrations in procuring drugs they or their loved ones rely on.
A parent shared: ‘One of our daughter's epilepsy medications called Keppra is always a gamble. We keep two unopened bottles in stock, but often, the pharmacy has it on backorder. At one point during 2020, there was no stock available for 3 months and we were a week away from taking her into the hospital to access their stash. We found one pharmacy that had the only stock in all of SEQ – they had multiple families driving 3 hours or more to come and get a bottle.’
Another commented: ‘My wife is on Ditropan because of Parkinsonism, so we felt the shortage of that drug. The doctor put her on a patch that has the same medication and that did work but she has trouble keeping patches on, they don't stick very well to her skin. The upshot of that is we burned through a lot of patches. However, our local chemist can now get Ditropan in, so we have the pills back now. I had to get a new prescription for it but we got there in the end. Basically, I kept asking the chemist when they expected it back in so we learned about it being available pretty quickly.’
A Redditor wrote: ‘My mother has diabetes and usually takes a weekly injection called Trulicity. All pharmacies I have called say it is out of stock and has been for about a month.’
Another user whose parent uses Trulicity, a drug for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, commented: ‘Same, my mother said she can't get hers until at least December probably. She had to go back on metformin, and she's losing a ton of progress on her health. It's heartbreaking and I don't know what to do other than despair.’
Some psychotropic medications are also harder to find: ‘There have been shortages on some antidepressants recently, which is terrifying. Ceasing them abruptly has awful side effects and you can't just switch types if yours is out of stock.’
The situation has become so desperate for some, it’s forcing them to think outside the box: ‘I've been in a situation like yours, where a partner needs a drug for quality of life issue. I ended up (long story) speaking with the manufacturer overseas, speaking with the local importers, and eventually was put onto another importer who was in the process of getting an alternative brought in. Might be worth keeping your ear out for anyone importing the same thing from another source.’
The Guardian previously reported on the ‘dire’ shortage in Australia of more than 300 medications, including those typically prescribed for diabetes, hormone replacement, depression, nausea, and stroke. While drug shortages happen occasionally, the pandemic has exacerbated the situation as it has affected global supply chains. The then-president of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners Karen Price said: ‘What we’re finding is that we’re suddenly getting patients saying I can’t get that medication or the pharmacist has changed it, so this is becoming an increasing problem.’
The problem is international – several countries in Europe are also facing shortages in widely used medications – but the impact is perhaps more felt in the country because Australia is highly dependent on imports for its supply. As much as 90 per cent of medications in the country are imported, mostly from the US and Europe. Manufacturers, in turn, rely on China and India for the production of active ingredients.
There are section 19A medications, which are drugs not on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods (ARTG) but are approved for import and supply in Australia in cases of shortages. However, they are not always affordable to the people who need them.
Last year, the federal government made an agreement with the pharmaceutical industry in an effort to mitigate the effects of drug shortages in Australia. The ‘Minimum Stockholding Requirements’ will require manufacturers to hold a minimum of either 4 or 6 months of stock in Australia for certain PBS-listed medicines. However, it won’t take effect until July 2023, and others have expressed disappointment that it took this long to come up with the deal.
In the meantime, Ditropan remains in short supply. The shortage is expected to be resolved by 19 January 2023, a month after the original estimate of mid-December. You can find other medications affected by the shortage on the Therapeutic Goods Administration database.
Are you affected by the national shortage of select pharmaceuticals? We’d love to hear about your experience in the comments.
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