National drug shortage being felt locally

DELMARVA – A drug shortage is impacting patients nationwide and here on the shore, some of our local pharmacies are feeling it.

Pharmacists say supply and demand chain issues are partly to blame. They’re also pointing to what they call an over-dependence on certain active pharmaceutical ingredients, many of which get imported from other countries.

At Apple Discount Drugs Pharmacist Ben Forrest tells us what they are struggling to supply. “Some of the newer brand name products, we’ve all heard the name Ozempic and the reason for that is the popularity of the drug, the amount that it being prescribed and then you run into the game where say you have a patient on Ozempic, who can’t get Ozempic, it’s changed to another medication similar to it in its class, so the demand for the replacement goes up,” said Forrest.

If you run into this issue, the pharmacy will try to locate it at another pharmacy or call the doctor to substitute the drug.