ST. LOUIS — A Ballwin mom has been struggling to fill her children’s ADHD medication prescriptions for the past six months and sometimes, they have had to do without or take lower doses because of the ADHD drug shortage.

What You Need To Know

  • Over the past year, 17 out of the 18 ADHD medicines have had stimulus shortages, according to St. Charles psychiatrist and associate clinical professor at Washington University Dr. Greg Mattingly

  • He suggests speaking with one’s doctor or clinician about taking alternative ADHD medicines that are like their original prescribed ones. For instance, if a child is taking a long-acting methylphenidate, what are other long-acting methylphenidates that are similar? Mattingly also suggests people take a step back to ask if the medicine they are taking is the right medicine for them

  • This also has led to new companies coming out with new treatments for ADHD, including Azstarys, a prodrug methylphenidate created by a company called Corium, according to Mattingly

  • There is an FDA approved video game aimed to improve attention in children ages 8-12 who have ADHD. EndeavorRx is a first-of-its-kind attention treatment developed by Akili

Melissa Buckholtz is not alone as the nationwide problem has been occurring over the last several years. 

Over the past year, 17 out of the 18 ADHD medicines have had stimulus shortages, according to St. Charles psychiatrist and associate clinical professor at Washington University Dr. Greg Mattingly.

“Every single day, we’re getting calls from patients who can’t find their medicine,” he said.

“What we’ve seen is as one medicine becomes short supply and you can’t get it at the pharmacy, people shift to another medicine and then that one has a shortage.”

That has been Buckholtz’s experience with her children’s medication, which are Vyvanse and Focalin. She noticed a shortage when other medicines, such as Adderall became low supply.

In the midst of the shortage, Buckholtz said her son Alex, who is in fourth grade, was able to switch to a chewable tablet of Vyvanse.

However, since her high school daughter, Lena, takes Vyvanse and Focalin, getting her prescriptions filled has been more challenging, Buckholtz said.

”I’ve had to call a variety of pharmacies,” she said. “I’ve gone to St. Charles before to get medicine.”

Lena is unable to switch to the chewable tablet of Vyvanse and Buckholtz has struggled to find the correct dosage of Focalin as her daughter is on a higher dose than FDA approved because of her fast metabolism.

Buckholtz said Focalin is the only medication that has worked best for her daughter since she was five years old, who also has been diagnosed with autism.

“Three hours hits, boom, it’s like a brick wall and the medicine is just gone. And she’s very aggressive and impulsive,” she said. “She needs medicine in her.”

Each month, Buckholtz calls pharmacies to see which ones have her children’s medication in stock. 

When Buckholtz thought she lost a bottle of her child’s medication, she was told it was going to take nine days to fulfill because of the back order. Luckily, Buckholtz found the bottle.

Mattingly said this revolving cycle of people trying to find their medicine has frustrated pharmacies because they cannot get their supplies, in addition to frustrating families, schools and health care systems, including Mattingly’s office.

He suggests speaking with one’s doctor or clinician about taking alternative ADHD medicines that are like their original prescribed ones. For instance, if a child is taking a long-acting methylphenidate, what are other long-acting methylphenidates that are similar?

Mattingly also suggests people take a step back to ask if the medicine they are taking is the right medicine for them.

“Maybe there are some gaps in treatment that we could find a better option for,” he said.

“Here in our practice, we’ve tried to move adults off short-acting stimulants. We’ve got them on the long-acting daily medicines. They tend to have less rebound. They tend to be better and actually more fitted for an adult’s workday.”

While change for some patients has been difficult, Mattingly said switching to a daily medicine instead of two or three times a day has been better.

The shortage has brought attention to Congress, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) about appropriate ADHD care for children, adolescents and adults, according to Mattingly.

“It’s put a spotlight on something that we’ve known has been out there for years for our patients and it’s finally giving them a voice,” he said.

This also has led to new companies coming out with new treatments for ADHD, including Azstarys, a prodrug methylphenidate created by a company called Corium, according to Mattingly.

Some of these newer options have not only been approved for children, but also for adults where the treatment options can be used throughout one’s age range.

Buckholtz’s advice for parents in her similar situation is to get to know their pharmacist and ask their opinions on what to do; learn the generic name of their children’s medicine; and ask insurance companies for alternative ways to receive medicine.

“Just keep trying and believe it’s possible,” she said.

Additionally, Mattingly mentioned there are studies on using digital devices to help stretch working memory attention span for patients with ADHD.

There is an FDA approved video game aimed to improve attention in children ages 8-12 who have ADHD. EndeavorRx is a first-of-its-kind attention treatment developed by Akili.

“There's a number of other ones that we've been doing studies on, looking at ADHD treatments for kids in school environments, for adults in work environments. And so, there's a lot of research going on to these various techniques right now,” he said.

While some are “not quite ready for prime time, I think they offer some hope for the future – hope in addition to medicines, beyond medicines, (and) potentially with medicines to augment the effective treatment,” Mattingly said.

For more information about ADHD and treatments, visit the American Professional Society of ADHD and Related Disorders and Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (CHADD).