Alyssa Wachtler needed an EpiPen, and soon. Her 6-year-old son, Hudson, is allergic to peanuts and tree nuts, and he heads back to school in early September.
Her local pharmacy was all out, and the pharmacist didn’t know when that might change. Many of the others she called only had the brand-name product, not the generic that her health insurance covers.
Only after calling between eight and 10 pharmacies in her New Jersey area was Wachtler able to find a two-pack of the generic EpiPen — and it was the pharmacy’s last box. The treatment will expire months before the end of the school year, though, so she will be on the hunt for an EpiPen again. And she worries that EpiPen supply issues will persist, putting her child’s health at risk.
“Will I be able to get it at the time I need it?” she said. “I just don’t have confidence in that now.”
Many parents are likely to face these challenges as back-to-school season hits.
Mylan’s MYL, -1.82% brand-name EpiPen and the authorized generic, two widely used allergic reaction treatments, as well as Amneal Pharmaceuticals’ AMRX, -0.99% generic auto-injector Adrenaclick were added to the Food and Drug Administration’s drug shortage list in May. Another manufacturer, privately held Kaleo Inc., has not reported supply interruptions.
All three companies have product available but “there may be occasional spot outages,” FDA spokesperson Jennifer Dooren said. The regulator has been working with manufacturers and monitoring supply as the school year begins, she said.
Read: There’s a shortage of U.S. EpiPens and other allergic reaction treatments
About one in 13 children has food allergies, according to the patient advocacy group Food Allergy Research and Education. Parents say there is typically a scramble in late August to buy products that contain epinephrine, which can reverse a life-threatening allergic reaction.
Kids with allergies often need to have these products in multiple places, such as school, any after-school activities and at home, compounding the problem.
“We are concerned that the shortage has not gone away,” said Jen Madsen, FARE’s chief of staff and senior director of federal advocacy. “We were certainly hoping it would be fixed by now, and it’s not, which is unfortunate.”
Do you have your epi for back to school? There’s a shortage of Mylan EpiPen, Mylan generic, and other epi generics. Be sure to give yourself a head start in acquiring your back to school epi in time for the first day of school.
— Sharon Wong (@NutFreeWok) August 13, 2018
