Community pharmacies may be contacted by GPs regarding the availability of medicines used to treat ADHD in the coming weeks, amid a national shortage.

A national patient safety alert issued this week said there were ‘supply disruptions’ of various strengths of methylphenidate, lisdexamfetamine and guanfacine.

With the issues expected to continue until December for some medicines, new patients should not be started on the products affected by shortages until the supply issue resolves, the guidance sent to healthcare professionals said.

And it asked GPs and other primary care staff to identify and contact all patients currently prescribed the medicines to ensure they have supplies to last until the re-supply date – which differs depending on the medicine in question.

Where patients will run out of the medication before the re-supply date, GPs are being asked to contact pharmacies to ‘establish availability of supply’ and to reach out to the patient’s specialist team for advice if a product cannot be sourced.

The shortages are due to a combination of manufacturing issues and an increased global demand, the alert explained.

The news follows a previous alert about shortages of atomoxetine capsules in August which is set to resolve next month, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said.

Current supply disruptions are for:

Methylphenidate:

    • Equasym XL 10, 20 and 30 mg capsules
    • Xaggitin XL 18 and 36 mg prolonged-release tablets
    • Concerta XL 54 mg prolonged-release tablets
    • Xenidate XL 27 mg prolonged-release tablets

Lisdexamfetamine:

    • Elvanse 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 and 70 mg capsules
    • Elvanse Adult 30, 50, and 70 mg capsules

Guanfacine:

    • Intuniv 1, 2, 3 and 4 mg prolonged-release tablets

Other ADHD drugs remain available ‘but cannot meet excessive increases in demand’, the notice from DHSC and NHS England said.

To address the shortages unlicensed imports of lisdexamfetamine capsules and guanfacine prolonged-release tablets have been sourced, the alert confirmed but lead times vary.

Diagnoses of ADHD have been rising in recent years with NHS figures showing more adults were prescribed drugs for the condition than children for the first time in the past year.

In 2022/23 prescribing of medicines for ADHD increased by 32% in adults and 12% in children under the age of 17, the data shows.

Last year there were 233,000 patients in England prescribed medicines for ADHD – 120,000 of them adults, the annual report said.

A version of this article first appeared on our sister title Pulse