Sen. Chuck Schumer offers plan to address national shortage of children's medications
NEW YORK -- Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is demanding the Food and Drug Administration investigate the nationwide drug shortage affecting children.
Parents are now concerned over empty shelves at pharmacies instead of toy stores this time of year.
"We shouldn't be going on a scavenger hunt just to meet the basic needs of our child, to find formula, to find Children's Tylenol. It shouldn't be this hard," said Marisa Dan of Kip's Bay.
Her 10-month-old daughter Ayelet's first winter will be during a tridemic, when there's a national shortage on children's meds like Tylenol and Motrin.
"They keep telling you it's on backorder. It's frustrating. It's frustrating because you can't do anything to help your child," added Jennifer Maggio of Miller Place on Long Island.
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Schumer has been in touch with the FDA about this and has a few possible solutions in mind, starting with asking for permission to get help from overseas.
"It's called BARDA, B-A-R-D-A, to bring in supplies from other countries until our shortages are alleviated. Second, they should look where the bottlenecks are. They should consider temporarily licensing new companies under the strictest of safety conditions to produce these drugs in the short term," Schumer said.
Pharmacists foresee shortages like this getting worse over time because now only a few pharmaceutical companies have control over the market and supplies to pharmacies.
"This is the worst year that we've ever seen it," said Danny Dang, Esco Pharmacy owner.
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It's the worst in 20 years for pharmacist Dang at Esco Pharmacy, where only suppositories are left on the shelves. Schumer's plan may help for now, but pharmacists like Dang know it'll only be a Band-Aid to a bigger problem in what he considers a monopolized pharmaceutical market.
"What he proposed is a short-term help to what's going on in the country, but it's not a long-term solution. We need something, a base here in this country, that is quick and ready to support our Americans. Our children's health cannot be at risk," Dang said.
Dang was told by the FDA that supplies may be back to normal in February, but he said he thinks even that will have to be extended.
