Amoxicillin shortages where you are?

[YaelAldrich]

I live in Boston and several friends with sick children cannot find Amoxicillin anywhere within two hour's drive of the area. Even chewables are gone. Children's Tylenol (and Children's Advil) is impossible to find as well 

How is the supply near you? Location and yes or no. 

[Arcadia]

Crosspost from monkeypox thread

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2022/12/13/strep-a-antibiotics-prices-shortages-hit-drugstores-amid-uk-outbreak.html
“A surge in Group A Streptococcus, especially among schoolchildren, has increased demand for amoxicillin and penicillin, the main antibiotic treatments, over the past week.

Where supplies do exist, they are "flying off the shelves," according to drugstores, with some saying they are now dispensing medication at a loss due to soaring wholesale prices.

In some cases, pharmacists say wholesale prices for the drugs have spiked as much as 850%. These increased costs must be absorbed either by the U.K.'s National Health Service or drugstores, rather than parents, who typically receive children's prescriptions for free.

….

However, over the past week, wholesale prices for amoxicillin and penicillin liquid solutions — which provide an alternative to tablets for children and are in particularly short supply — have risen in some places from around £2 to between £15 and £19, according to AIMP's Hannbeck.

London-based drug wholesaler Sigma Pharmaceuticals reportedly hiked the price of its amoxicillin liquid solution by more than 10 times to £19 on Thursday, but later told CNBC the surge was due to an "IT glitch."

Martin Sawer, executive director at the Healthcare Distribution Association, which represents drug wholesalers, said higher prices "directly reflect" the increased costs charged by manufacturers. He rejected claims of supply shortfalls, pointing instead to a "huge demand surge."

"Right now there is too much demand for products and not enough competitive products being made available to buy from the manufacturers," Sawer said.

…

"For months on end, pharmacies have been footing the bill for NHS medicines themselves when these should be covered by Government," said Morrison.

"This can't continue," she added. "If Government doesn't intervene soon to protect pharmacies, patients can expect to see ever more problems with receiving their medicines. Government and the NHS must fix this, and fast."”

[Arcadia]

https://www.aap.org/en/pages/amoxicillin-shortage-antibiotic-options-for-common-pediatric-conditions/

(Last Updated 11/21/2022)

“There is a national shortage of amoxicillin suspensions that is anticipated to last several months. See below for alternative therapies during the shortage.

• Preferentially prescribe amoxicillin tablets, capsules, or chew tabs for children able to take these formulations. These have NOT been impacted by the shortage. Attempt to round doses (+/- 10%) to 125 mg, 250 mg, 500 mg, 750 mg, 875 mg, or 1000 mg.
  • Products available:
    • Tablets: 500 mg, 875 mg
    • Capsules: 250 mg, 500 mg
    • Chew tabs: 250 mg
  • Tablets can be split/crushed to mix with any liquid or semisolid, like applesauce. This can be given orally or by tube.
    • Capsules can be opened and mixed with any liquid or semisolid, like applesauce. This can be given orally or by tube.
    • Chew tabs can be split.
• When amoxicillin cannot be used, consider the following alternatives:

*Additional alternatives for antibiotic allergies listed in the AAP Red Book Systems-Based Table “

 

Edited December 15, 2022 by Arcadia

[Ausmumof3]

This is the scariest thing 😞 

[Tanaqui]

Our pharmacist told us that everything, literally everything is backordered and on shortages. Whether you have to pick it up from the pharmacist or can grab it off the shelf, if it's medicine, there's a shortage.

She looked really frazzled, too, so I believe it.

[Arcadia]

https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/drugshortages/dsp_ActiveIngredientDetails.cfm?AI=Amoxicillin Oral Powder for Suspension&st=c#

Four manufacturers with availability status listed in the link
“Amoxicillin Oral Powder for Suspension 
Status: Currently in Shortage 
»Date first posted: 10/28/2022 
»Therapeutic Categories: Anti-Infective; Pediatric”

[prairiewindmomma]

My Dh needed amoxicillin this past week. We managed to find it in capsules but it isn’t anywhere in suspension. We lucked out getting it in capsules—they had just gotten a shipment in.

On a related note, the adhd drug Adderall has been mostly gone for about three months now. My dr issues a paper prescription and one literally drives from pharmacy to pharmacy hoping someone has it in stock to fill. 
 

Liquid Tylenol has been gone for months. Even adult Tylenol capsules are getting hard to find. I think people are buying them, halving them, and crushing them and putting them in pudding or applesauce to get by with their kids. We are running low at our house and I ended up buying 10 pills for $2 at Target checkout today to make our own Excedrin (also hard to find) so my migraine sufferers have some options (ibuprofen + tylenol + caffeine). 

[Arcadia]

12 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said:

Liquid Tylenol has been gone for months. Even adult Tylenol capsules are getting hard to find. I think people are buying them, halving them, and crushing them and putting them in pudding or applesauce to get by with their kids. We are running low at our house and I ended up buying 10 pills for $2 at Target checkout today to make our own Excedrin (also hard to find) so my migraine sufferers have some options (ibuprofen + tylenol + caffeine). 

My husband’s employer recommended this store for using our HSA. We have bought from them twice and delivery was quite fast. They have Excedrin and Tylenol in stock. Their prices are probably more expensive than Costco. 

https://store.optum.com/shop/products/excedrin-migraine-caplets-100ct/
https://store.optum.com/search?term=Tylenol&limit=12

[sweet2ndchance]

The pharmacy in our small town hasn't had dh's antidepressant for a month now. They also have random backorders on other meds we need. We haven't needed oral antibiotics, thank goodness, but we were able to pick up antibiotic eyedrops for pinkeye yesterday without issue.

Edited December 15, 2022 by sweet2ndchance

[KSera]

24 minutes ago, sweet2ndchance said:

 

The pharmacy in our small town hasn't had dh's antidepressant for a month now.

 

That scares the heck out of me for people on psychiatric and other important maintenance medications that one can’t just stop cold turkey. We have had a kid on a medication that took ages to gradually wean them off so the side effects were manageable; the thought of having to stop abruptly is very scary. There are many medications that are risky to stop suddenly. I hope your dh is doing okay. 

[Tenaj]

My grandson needed antibiotics two weeks ago.  He's allergic to amoxicillin and I'm not sure what kind was prescribed but it took my daughter basically a whole day to fill the script.  She finally found it at their local children's hospital at 9p.m. after a day of hunting.

[Mrs Tiggywinkle Again]

I have not been able to get my diabetes meds since September.  There’s been a huge surge in doctors prescribing it off label for weight loss, and that’s led to significant shortages.

My blood sugar doesn’t care why though. And it’s been a battle.

[Katy]

Yes, I posted about this a couple weeks ago.

[sweet2ndchance]

5 hours ago, KSera said:

That scares the heck out of me for people on psychiatric and other important maintenance medications that one can’t just stop cold turkey. We have had a kid on a medication that took ages to gradually wean them off so the side effects were manageable; the thought of having to stop abruptly is very scary. There are many medications that are risky to stop suddenly. I hope your dh is doing okay. 

He's doing as well as can be expected for someone who had to stop cold turkey on antidepressants. 😞 It's not the first time we've had shortages around here so at least we know what to expect withdrawl-wise. I was going to call the doctor to see if we can put him on something different for a while until they have Lexapro again but she is out of the office this week. Sigh.

[fairfarmhand]

Even animal penicillin is hard to find. My dog was sick and I needed a bottle (injectable solution) and couldn't find it anywhere.

[elegantlion]

I was recently on Amoxicillin pills- not sure mgs - for pneumonia. I only received a 5 day supply, not sure if that is the norm or was indicative of shortages. Most antibiotics I've been given were for 10 days. 

[Selkie]

1 hour ago, fairfarmhand said:

Even animal penicillin is hard to find. My dog was sick and I needed a bottle (injectable solution) and couldn't find it anywhere.

My horse vet told me that in 2023, it will no longer be legal for animal antibiotics to be sold OTC - veterinary oversight will be required. So a lot of people are stockpiling them while they are still available.

[Ausmumof3]

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/dec/12/antibiotics-in-short-supply-across-australia-as-gps-call-for-fix-to-increasing-problem
 

Dr Nicole Higgins, the president of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, said the shortage of certain medicines was “becoming an increasing problem in Australia”. 

“It’s really been made worse by the Covid-19 pandemic, which has affected international supply chains,” she said. “And the shortage of antibiotics appears to be a global supply and manufacturing issue, but it is unclear exactly why demand has increased.”

[prairiewindmomma]

Re: the opaqueness of drug manufacturing supply chains: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna58240

[Arcadia]

@Ausmumof3

https://www.tga.gov.au/safety/shortages/medicine-shortage-alerts/substitution-allowed-address-shortage-amoxicillin
“

The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has been notified of shortages of all strengths and presentations of oral amoxicillin medicines (capsules, tablets and oral suspensions). These shortages are due to manufacturing issues at a major supplier leading to unexpected increases in demand for alternative suppliers.

Amoxicillin is a widely used antibiotic used to treat many different bacterial infections.

To assist with timely access for patients using amoxicillin, the TGA has made a Serious Scarcity Substitution Instrument (SSSI): Therapeutic Goods (Serious Scarcity and Substitutable Medicine) (Amoxicillin) Instrument 2022- external site. This SSSI:

• declares most oral amoxicillin medicines as scarce medicines;
• specifies the substitute medicine as per the substitution protocol provided in the table included in the SSSI- external site;
• does not declare 250mg capsules as scarce medicines because of the potential impact this would have on supply of the liquid formulations.

While amoxicillin products generally are in short supply, some have limited availability. This SSSI allows  a pharmacist to provide another amoxicillin medicine, when the prescribed medicine is unavailable, without prior approval from the prescriber. The pharmacist will then notify the prescriber of the substitution soon after and will include the correct instructions to the patient for the provided amoxicillin product.

The SSSI allows a pharmacist to offer to the patient or their carer:

• an alternative amoxicillin syrup or suspension strength when the prescribed one is unavailable
• amoxicillin 250mg capsules or 1 gram tablets if the prescribed 500mg capsules are unavailable
• amoxicillin 250mg or 500mg capsules if the prescribed 1 gram tablets are unavailable.

The SSSI is in force from 6 December 2022 until 31 May 2023. The TGA may, however, revoke the SSSI before its end date if the serious scarcity is resolved, or safety concerns are identified. This SSSI is in effect in all states and territories.

For more information about SSSIs see Substituting scarce medicines and Serious Scarcity Substitution Instruments (SSSIs). “

[Shelydon]

Not here. I picked up amoxicillin yesterday for one of my kids. No problem with antidepressants either. 

[Hilltopmom]

No children’s Tylenol in stock here, no adhd meds (that’s been fun at school lately, not).