Pharmaceutical company not allowed to ramp up production
The only pharmaceutical company in Australia which supplies a critical ADHD drug will not be allowed to ramp up production even though there's a serious global shortage. US drug officials who control the key ingredient behind Vyvanse have refused to raise manufacturing limits despite pleas from Australian psychiatrists who say patients are suffering.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00 Bowling has never been a problem for Mark McCudden, but fielding has always come with
00:06 some challenges.
00:07 I'll be off, completely off with the fairies.
00:10 Thinking about anything.
00:13 The 42-year-old is one of more than 400,000 people who take medication for ADHD.
00:20 It's changed the way he plays cricket and the direction of his life.
00:24 After years of bouncing between schools and professions, he's now the financial controller
00:29 for a major radiology company.
00:31 There's no way on earth without the medication I would have achieved what I've achieved in
00:35 this role.
00:36 But since last August, Vyvanse, the second most common ADHD medication in Australia,
00:43 has been in global shortage.
00:45 The Therapeutic Goods Administration is now advising that four different strengths of
00:50 the medication are in short supply and says things should get better between March and
00:55 April.
00:56 But the prospect of that not happening has prompted several Australian groups to write
01:01 to the US Drug Enforcement Administration and plead for production limits to be eased.
01:07 ADHD medication like Vyvanse contains a controlled substance called lisdexamphetamine, which
01:13 is made in the US and is tightly controlled by the DEA because of its potential for abuse.
01:19 They need to understand the effect that it's having on people in Australia and New Zealand
01:24 and we're certainly very willing to work with them.
01:27 But the ABC can reveal that in January this year, the DEA quietly published a notice knocking
01:33 back pleas to raise lisdexamphetamine production limits and therefore the amount of Vyvanse
01:38 in the market because it says current quotas will be sufficient to meet demand both in
01:43 Australia and abroad.
01:45 The refusal also comes after Takeda Pharmaceuticals, which is the only company bringing Vyvanse
01:51 into Australia, revealed it used up its allotted share of lisdexamphetamine in the last two
01:56 years.
01:57 For Mark McCudden, the thought of going back to a life punctuated by chaos and distraction
02:03 fills him with angst.
02:05 To find a solution for someone with a disability and then take it away from them is, when you
02:11 say it so clearly like that, it's cruel.
02:14 A plea for kindness.
02:15 [BLANK_AUDIO]