For several weeks, supply tensions have been affecting the sertraline, an antidepressant prescribed in the treatment of depression and several anxiety disorders. A shortage which leaves thousands of patients without stable treatment, but which does not only concern adults. Many children who no longer have access to their essential treatment, “worry child psychiatrists. Like Dr. Stéphane Clerget who launches the alert on True Medical. According to him, the situation is very worrying, but passed for the moment in silence.
Several treatments are suffering
However, breaking up treatment is the current concern for parents, whose children suffer from neurodevelopment or TOC disorders. “It is a real subject of concern between colleagues when it is very surprising that the case does not make more noise, when we have daily feedback from parents in difficulty to follow a prescription” says Dr. Clerget. Several treatments are currently impacted.
- Methylphenidate. Prescribed against ADHD, this treatment includes several versions: Quazym, Ritalin, Concerta … “But currently, sometimes it is one that is missing, sometimes it is the other. There is never a time when there are no stock breaks “ says the child psychiatrist. A situation that forces parents and children to juggle between the different side effects;
- The sertraline. As with adult patients, sertraline is also lacking. “However, zoloft, is today the only medication that can be prescribed against serious tocs in children. There is no alternative” explains the expert.
- Other drugs, such as quetiapinewhich can only be prescribed from the age of 18 also lack the call. “But these are also treatments that concern us, faced with young adults who suffer from bipolar disorders, or schizophrenic disorders, or even major anxiety disorders. So it is starting to be really problematic”.
Heavy consequences with dropout lack of treatment
The difficulty in obtaining its prescription or the stock -out of, however, are not trivial as the expert reminds us. “”It is very scary for parents and children whose daily life is unbalanced by the shortage “. In addition, rapid physical and mental consequences are to be feared.
“In fact, when well -prescribed and effective drugs are suddenly stopped, we will see the reappearance of symptoms that can alter the behavior, sleep, children’s education, their relationships with others, with unexpected and massive relapses sometimes” lists Dr. Clerget. If heavy treatments are prescribed to counter important disorders, this can go as far as having to drop the child. “This is sometimes the case with very important ADHDs or OCDs, and it’s brutal for everyone”.
In addition, the stop, even temporary, can signify the dosages again and again, when they were well calibrated. “”Sometimes you have to provide a withdrawal mechanism, especially with the sertraline. Or take the dosages from the start, especially if we are offered alternative medicines “.
For methylphenidates for example, it is possible to go from one molecule to another, but these do not have the same effects. “”So yes indeed, we are forced to restart at low doses to gauge the side effects and gradually read them, which leads to a break in care which is completely harmful “.
Why do these drugs fail?
Ruptures have several origins as explained by the newspaper Release This day.
- The production of quetiapine was interrupted in the summer of 2023 due to a defect of quality detected in the Greek factory of Pharmmathen International, which alone ensures 60 % of the national supply. According to the ANSM, the situation has still not returned to normal;
- The Santraline, for its part, suffers from temporary production problems in the laboratories concerned, against the backdrop of an increasing demand for several years, specifies the drug agency;
- As for lithium – marketed under the name of Téralithe by the French laboratory Delbert -, it faces difficulties linked to the compliance of the raw material used.
These tensions illustrate a worrying trend: in six years, the number of drugs breaking or in supply tension reported at the ANSM has multiplied by seven, from 700 in 2018 to 4,925 in 2024.
“”A lack of transparency of the health authorities“”
This is the whole knot of the problem for professionals. According to Dr. Clerget, child psychiatrists who contacted the drug agency did not receive any reaction in return. “While the shortage of Amoxicillin had caused a stir” he compares. “”There, we are not offered any solution “.
The doctor points to several dysfunctions, which have been able to lead to this emergency situation.
- “We are already probably dependent on imports for active ingredients, since it is often made in India or China. And therefore sensitive to geopolitical conflicts” he evokes.
- There may also be a tension on demand. “”This is undoubtedly true for methylphenidate, because it has never been so prescribed. When demand increases, it is not always anticipated. “
- A question of drug profitability can also play according to the expert. “The fact that it is reimbursed in France and that it suddenly costs less than in other countries means that we are not a” very profitable “market at the international level, compared to other countries” he said
Several reasons can therefore explain these recurring tensions but today, nothing seems to be moving to improve the daily life of patients. “For the moment we are coming to a lack of transparency on the side of the Medicines Agency or even the High Authority for Health” he regrets, worried about the future.
A shame while mental health is announced as the great national cause of this year 2025. Last April, a collective of professionals had already alerted to this situation of shortage … without much result.