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(Epistemic status: Unsure on details. Some post-publication edits 5/1 to make this less strident.)

I.

There is\xa0a national shortage of buspirone.

Buspirone is a 5HT-1 agonist used to control anxiety. Unlike most psychiatric drugs, it\u2019s in a class of its own \u2013 there are no other sole 5HT-1 agonists on the market. It\u2019s not a very strong medication, but it\u2019s safe, it\u2019s non-addictive, it\u2019s off-patent, and it works well for a subset of patients. Some of them have been on it for years.\xa0

Now there\u2019s a national shortage. My patients can\u2019t get it, or have to go hunting from pharmacy to pharmacy until they find one that has it. I\u2019ve told people find a source to stockpile a supply so they don\u2019t run out. It feels like we\u2019re living in the Soviet Union.

How did this happen? The\xa0New York Times\xa0writes:

The main reason for the buspirone shortage appears to be interrupted production at a Mylan Pharmaceuticals plant in Morgantown, W.Va., which produced about a third of the country\u2019s supply of the drug. The Food and Drug Administration had said the facility was dirty and that the company failed to follow quality control procedures.