Buy Oxycodone? Pharmacies Having Hard Time Getting Oxycodone - OxyContin - Oxycotton

OxyContin and Oxycodone 

Even if you have a prescription for Oxy codone or Oxy Contin you may have a hard time finding a pharmacy who can fill it. The following article will explain what is happening to the narcotics and pain killer industry. Will there be more problems with pain killer withdrawal and side effects?

Pain drug in short supply
Federal drug rules, lawsuits hinder oxycodone production
By Tom Vogt
Columbian staff writer

Even a prescription for oxycodone isn’t always enough to bring relief from pain these days. Some customers report walking away empty-handed from the pharmacy.

“There is a shortage,” said Bill Fassett, a Washington State University pharmacy professor.

It stems from a combination of factors. Oxycodone is a narcotic pain reliever derived from morphine, so it’s a controlled substance.

The Drug Enforcement Administration restricts the production of generic oxycodone, which comes in different strengths and formulations. The restriction includes related medications like OxyContin, a brand-name drug sold in an extended-release formulation.

Both medications are subject to abuse as street drugs, so the DEA keeps a tight rein on their production to prevent abuse.

“The government sets production quotas, based on estimated annual needs,” said Fassett, vice-chair of WSU’s Department of Pharmacotherapy. If demand exceeds a manufacturer’s annual quota, some might run out in October, Fassett said.

Producers aren’t the only ones under sharp federal scrutiny, said Mike Graeff, longtime Vancouver pharmacist.

“The DEA controls the production of pain medication on a national basis, monitoring all levels of dispensing and prescribing,” said Graeff, owner of Mike’s Eastside Drugs and Homecare Equipment. “They look at a pharmacy, and if it exceeds the amount, you’re red-flagged. You have to explain why it’s peaking.”

Graeff, who just sold the pharmacy side of his store to Walgreen Co., said he had to disappoint some walk-in customers over the last six weeks or so.

“If they weren’t our patients, we haven’t been able take care of them,” Graeff said.

Graeff knows how the drug can be diverted by criminals. “In our last robbery, that was the drug they took,” Graeff said. “They took it away from somebody who needed it.”

DEA restrictions aren’t the only crimp in the pipeline, Fassett said. Some companies have stopped making oxycodone after being sued for patent infringement by Purdue Pharma, Fassett said.

A couple of years ago, “Five companies were making generic extended-release oxycodone,” he said. And now, “Four companies have discontinued production.”

The one company that is still making that version of oxycodone said the product is on back-order. According to the Web site of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, which provides a list of drugs in short supply, the manufacturer could not provide a reason for the shortage.

The Web site (www.ashp.org) also lists shortages of immediate-release oxycodone from six different manufacturers: five of them cite manufacturing issues or issues of supply and demand.

Some regional health-care providers, where a patient can go right from the physician to the pharmacist, are able to handle things within their own systems.

“We can only fill a prescription for certain people,” said Lonnye Finneman, assistant director of pharmacy at Southwest Washington Medical Center. “We’re not a retail pharmacy. We’re only allowed to fill prescriptions for our patients and our outpatients.”

The shortage “hasn’t affected any of our patients’ access to adequate pain control,” said Kaiser Permanente’s Dr. Sean Jones.

While there has been a shortage of the generic oxycodone, the brand-name product has been available, said Jones, chairman of the regional formulary and therapeutics committee.

However, since OxyContin is an extended-release formulation, it doesn’t always help patients looking for immediate pain relief, pharmacists say. And, like other products, the brand-name medication is significantly more expensive than the generic.

WSU’s Fassett has some suggestions for people who don’t get their care through full-service health systems.

“The best strategy for the long term is to consistently use the same pharmacists and have a relationship with them,” Fassett said.

See how flexible your physician will be about changing the dosing, he said.

The patient who is unable to continue on a narcotic-based pain-relief program faces a double challenge, Fassett added. “They’re at risk of not only having pain, but withdrawal.”

http://columbian.com/article/20090201/NEWS02/702019952

Make sur to check wiht you pharmacist to make sure they have am addeqaute sup;y if you need to take these painkillers.  Also speelld oxycotton and oxy contin.