At Bob Dawson's recommendation I am posting a post I recently put on Patients Like Me (PLM). This was on a thread addressing the current global shortage of Sinemet, which (based on threads on PLM) appears to have affected PWP in the States also, althouhg not perhaps as severely as it is affecting PLP in other areas of the world. Wish I hada the answers and I hope that posting this may prompt a better explanation/discussion of this.

The post:

There appear to be 2 different aspects of this:

The first is that the company with the patent on Sinemet (I believe this is Merck) has decided to switch at least one element in its supply change for the ingredients for Sinemet. I have not seen any further explanation for this switch and whether the issue is one of quality control, or if the element(s) of the supply chain involved are deemed unreliable or insufficient or inefficient or whether there is some other issue. An answer to this might be enlightening and might help clarify whether the changes being noted in the supply and distribution of generic Carbidopa/Levodopa are in any way related to this disruption in the supply of Sinemet.

The second issue has to do with decisions as to how the existing supply of Sinemet is distributed (on both a local, regional, national and international basis). This issue is certainly amplified by the overall shortage of Sinemet (which appears to be global) but may also involve other issues that transcend this shortage and may involve the global supply of medications in general (not just this particular medication).

My personal opinion is that the distribution problem does not appear to explain the decisions that led to the global shortage. My personal opinion is also that I think it unlikely that Merck decided to create a shortage just to boost the demand (and their potential for profit) for Sinemet. My personal opinion is that there was most likely another reason for Merck's decision and I would like to know what that reason is.

While I would suspect that I would be supportive of Merck's decision to alter their supply chain like this, Merck may believe that it is in a situation where they would be better off keeping their reasons to themselves. In this respect, my opinion is that this does a disservice to the global Parkinson's community.

I join with those who would like to know of any other information as to the reasons for this situation.

Bill