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Author: Admin | 2025-04-28
DEA has reduced production quotas for oxycodone by over 68% and hydrocodone by nearly 73%. DEA acknowledged receiving many comments from pain patients who said their local pharmacies were often out of opioids, forcing them to contact additional pharmacies and travel further to get their prescriptions filled. DEA said those issues were out of its control.“Drug shortages may occur due to factors outside of DEA's control such as manufacturing and quality problems, processing delays, supply chain disruptions, or discontinuations,” the agency said. “Currently, FDA has not issued notice of any nationwide shortages of the types of opioid medications mentioned by these commenters.”The FDA and DEA may not be tracking opioid shortages, but the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) is. Opioids currently listed in short supply by the ASHP include oxycodone/acetaminophen tablets, oxycodone immediate-release tablets, hydrocodone/acetaminophen tablets, hydromorphone tablets and solution, fentanyl solution, and morphine solution. Most opioid medications are generic and cheap to make, but they have low profit margins and come with high risks. Teva Pharmaceuticals, a large generic drug maker, recently discontinued production of oxycodone and potent fentanyl lozenges. The medications were entangled in costly litigation that resulted in Teva paying $4.25 billion to settle opioid liability lawsuits. Opioid shortages at the pharmacy level are also linked to litigation. Under the terms of a 2022 settlement with drug distributors, opioids are tightly rationed at many pharmacies, resulting in patients with opioid prescriptions being unable to get them filled because pharmacies are out of stock.Here again, the DEA
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