Panicked patients as popular medications get wiped from pharmacy shelves

Widely used medications — including one used to treat ADHD — are missing from Australian shelves amid a major supply chain crunch. SEE THE FULL LIST.

A popular drug used to treat children and adults with ADHD has been wiped from Australian shelves amid a major supply chain crunch.

Families are struggling to get their hands on Ritalin, a stimulant drug used for the attention disorder — an illness that has been on a sharp rise in the past decade.

The drug scarcity comes as the Therapeutic Good Administration reported a shortage of several popular medications, including antidepressants, high-blood pressure medication and drugs to treat asthma and clotting.

Psychiatrist Dr Tanveer Ahmed said patients had been struggling to go to school and work with the sudden shortage of the drug.

“We’ve had several calls from late last week to early this week of people not being able to pick up their meds. It has left people panicking and (has) a range of knock-on effects, people aren’t functioning as well at work, some people have been forced to take days off, kids are more behaviourally disturbed in the schoolyard.”

Dr Ahmed has been prescribing substitute medications for his patients, but said swapping mental health drugs was not “ideal”.

“It’s not ideal as not everyone is going to respond in the same way and some people have just had to go without,” he said.

The TGA’s drug shortage notice board lists Ritalin’s 10mg, 20mg and 30mg doses in short supply.

Supplier Novartis Pharmaceuticals Australia said the issue was due to a manufacturing issue that has now been resolved.

“(The supplier) notified the TGA of shortages of multiple strengths of Ritalin … due to a manufacturing issue. Novartis has confirmed that the Ritalin LA 60mg shortage is resolved and supply has resumed.”

Tofranil, an antidepressant to manage depression, anxiety and panic disorder, is completely unavailable, as is hypertension drug Dibenzyline.

Psychiatrist Tanveer Ahmed.

RANZCP President Vinay Lakra.

Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists President Dr Vinay Lakra has spoken to the federal government about the persistent issue of medicine shortages.

“Over the course of the last two years — and even earlier — we’ve been aware of a shortage of various medications,” he said.

“The government needs to find solutions for the availability of key critical medications.

“We’ve been in the pandemic for a little while, we need to be doing this better.

“(At the start of the pandemic) I could see this issue persist in 2020 and early 2021, but we are in mid-2022.”

Dr Lakra said the shortage was causing relapses, and urged patients to speak to their doctors, plan ahead, and to look at compounding pharmacies who could create the medication.

“People become unwell as a result of not having medication available to them, or they are changing over — every relapse contributes to problems for the individual, for the family, for everybody,” he said.

“There is a cost to be paid for every relapse.”

Ritalin is widely used to treat ADHD patients.

Truck driver Mark Lang said he went to the pharmacy to get Ritalin but was told they had none and they were not sure when stock would come in.

“There is none around. I went to my chemist on Saturday and they said ‘we don’t have any’ and that was unusual. He said their suppliers have none and they don’t know when it’s coming in,” he said.

Mr Lang said he was now trying a different medication because going without it could impact his ability to focus and work, and made him agitated and “on edge”.

“I have a lot of trouble focusing, I really struggle to focus and stay on task, and I become very easily irritated. I just become a little more on edge,” he said.

“I’ve now got a script for a different medication.”

Originally published as Panicked patients as popular medications get wiped from pharmacy shelves