FDA anticipating shortage of amoxicillin for 2nd winter in a row
MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- For the second winter in a row, the Food and Drug Administration is anticipating another shortage of a popular antibiotic for sick babies.
The FDA says the supply of amoxicillin hasn't fully recovered from last year.
The oral suspension of amoxicillin's still here in Milwaukee and readily available, but Hayat Pharmacy showed us the website they go to to order amoxicillin, and you can see a drop just in the last two weeks.
"They're not out, they still have it, but they don't have as many bottles as they had a couple weeks ago," said Dr. Hashim Zaibak, owner of Hayat Pharmacy.
Hayat Pharmacy orders from McKesson, a popular wholesaler. Each line represents the amoxicillin inventory in real time.
"Under normal circumstances, all of these would be plus, over 100, over 100," said Dr. Zaibak.
Last year's supply got so low it was on backorder.
"If you came here last year, you would've seen all of these zeros from the top, from the bottom to the top," said Dr. Zaibak.
Dr. Zaibak says amoxicillin chewables and capsules were still available, and that helped with the oral suspension shortage.
"First of all, don't panic," he said. "There are options. If we have to, pharmacists can make liquid amoxicillin from capsules. It's called compounding, so if we have to compound it, we can."
Parents coming off the heels of last year's other issues, like a limited supply of formula and oral suspension Tylenol, say they've had enough.
"Kids get sick all the time," said Danielle Marquardt, mother.
Her baby boy's sick right now, and on amoxicillin.
"I didn't know there was gonna be a shortage, but thankful that I got it now, I guess," she said.
U.S. Antibiotics manufactures amoxicillin, pointing to a lack of domestic manufacturing as the root cause for pharmaceutical drug shortages in this country.
The president of U.S. Antibiotics goes on to express a desire for lawmakers to support policies that prioritize U.S. manufacturers.