Tetracycline Shortage

[Guide]

A Consumer's Report article points out there is a shortage of tetracycline in the US. Tetracycline has been used for over fifty years to treat rosacea. The report concludes for those of you concerned about this shortage:

Bottom line: If your doctor prescribes tetracycline and your local pharmacies can't fill the prescription, ask your doctor for a new prescription for a drug in the same class: doxycycline or minocycline. "Doxycycline has more or less taken over the market because of its availability, and because it's only taken twice a day," says Marvin M. Lipman, MD, Consumer Reports' chief medical adviser. "Tetracycline has to be taken four times a day."

You might get compounded tetracycline from a pharmacy that's state-certified for compounding, but the resulting medication could be more expensive than doxycycline, Lipman says. One pharmacy in Hickory, N.C., The Compounding Pharmacy, told us they could compound it. Although it would cost more than buying the regular capsules, the pharmacist there, Bill Mixon, RPh, says it would be affordable nevertheless. If you do get it compounded, just make sure the pharmacy is accredited by the Pharmacy Compounding Accreditation Board.

What about buying it online? Think again, ASHP's Benjamin says. "We strongly discourage patients from attempting to obtain tetracycline from Internet sites since there is significant risk of receiving counterfeit or adulterated products."

Read the report:

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2012/08/is-there-a-tetracycline-shortage/index.htm