Options available amid pediatric medicine shortage
LAKE LUZERNE, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- In the more than 50 years of filling prescriptions, Stone's Pharmacy said they've seen their share of drug shortages, but this one impacting children is different.
"It’s often a manufacturing problem, a shortage of materials," pharmacist Leigh McConchie said. "What we’re seeing right now with some of the children’s antibiotics -- amoxicillin, cefdiniar, azythromicin -- doesn’t seem to be related to manufacturing, it’s actually a supply issue."
But local pharmacists said not panic as there are plenty of solutions currently in the works to help solve the shortage.
“We have other choices.”
McConchie is the pharmacist and owner at Stone's. He said his Lake Luzerne pharmacy ran out of amoxicillin on Wednesday. His pediatric fever reducing shelves are on the thin side, but his out look is full of positivity. He said parents have options.
"In most cases, there’s another drug that’s very similar to the one they’ve originally written, and we can just switch it to that,” he said.
Compounding or custom mixing to create a specialized medication in-house is another great option.
"The FDA has given approval to compound amoxicillin from either the tablets or the capsules that are available for adults into a liquid,” he explained.
McConchie is also stirring up hope at the state level. He's president-elect of the Pharmacists Society of the State of New York. The organization has several bills making their way to Gov. Kathy Hochul's desk that could help prevent even more medicine shortages. One would allow pharmacies to purchase medications from other pharmacies across the country instead of relying solely on wholesalers.
"A lot of these shortages can be regional, so they may not have the same problem with RSV in, say South Carolina, so there may be a pharmacy down there that has an excess of medication that we can purchase directly from them," McConchie said.
McConchie urges parents to work closely with their pharmacists during this unprecedented cold and flu season to get what you need.
"It is our job as a pharmacist to make sure that you are taken care of and that you don’t leave without the needed medications."