Bob Dawson wrote:
"Which other countries will receive none at all has not yet been revealed.
Canada paid what to be on top of the list? What palm did Australia fail to grease? What type of countries - what income level - will be cut off entirely?"

I certainly can't answer Bob's questions but I wondered if the US distributors were involved in the "world-wide" shortage.

Upon the advice of a good doctor (my definition is one who listens and responds timely besides being knowledgeable), I wrote to the FDA Drug Shortages Group. They responded:

"Thank you for your email message. BMS markets the Sinemet and Sinemet CR for the US market and they have not reported any shortage to us. We are checking on supplies of their products and will let you know what they report. Please note that the US has several generic firms that also supply the same formulation of carbidopa and levodopa. Please let us know if your pharmacy is a having any difficulty obtaining the product you normally take and we can check but we are not aware of any shortage issues and have not had any reported to us for the US products. Thanks.

CDER Drug Shortage."

I'll report if I receive further information from them. Of course, they don't realize that the generic does not work for some of us.

In terms of motivation, the only thing I can surmise is that the drug companies may receive more money for the drug in certain countries and are providing it without shortages there. I've been told that even for generics, US patients pay more and therefore drug companies make more $ on drugs sold here.

Perhaps there are other reasons like transportation? And that's why by some reports, Canada and US have no shortage? Is it manufactured here? But I can't imagine that the transportation costs of sending small pills across oceans would inflate costs enough to create shortages in the rest of the world.