The Great Midrin® Shortage of 2007

Where’s My Midrin®?

Photography By © Michael John Coleman 2007

WASHINGTON, DC November 24th, 2007— Midrin, Midrin wherefore art thou, Midrin?  Of all the medications out there, and there are a lot of them for Migraine these days, Midrin® is the name anew.  Well now, maybe not so anew.  But for many, Midrin® is a mainstay in Migraine treatment.  These days there appears to be a Midrin® shortage!  Oh no!

Right about now there are those of you who are asking what is Midrin®?  Is it a new Migraine drug?!  Well don’t get too excited.  Midrin® has been with us for quite a while.  In fact, Midrin® was created by a drug company called Carnrick Laboratories, which closed down operations many years ago after selling their rights to Midrin® to Woman’s First Healthcare (WFHC). 

But if you looked up WFHC to give them a call and inquire about the lag in production or apparent lack of refills you have been encountering at the local pharmacy, hey no answer?  You see, in 2004 Sun Pharma purchased our little Migraine helper.  But calling Sun Pharma won't help either. We need to contact the subsidiary, Caraco Pharmaceutical Laboratories, Ltd.  That we did.

We spoke to a very nice person who would not release their name, but they did assure MAGNUM that Caraco Pharmaceutical is manufacturing Midrin® at full capacity.  In fact, they were even increasing production to meet demand.  Which is good, judging by the calls and e-mails at MAGNUM, there is a good demand for this President Kennedy-era drug. 

Actually, when we contacted the Food & Drug Administration to learn if there were any warning letters or other industrial issues that we could not locate on the FDA website, we learned some interesting facts about this popular medication.  For one thing, it is at least as old as the Kennedy Administration because it is a DESI drug.  A drug that predates the current drug approval system.  The FDA initiated a Drug Efficacy Study Implementation (DESI) to evaluate the effectiveness of those drugs that had been previously approved on safety grounds between 1938 and 1962. 

Which brings us to another interesting point, there are no generic versions!  Just compounds with the identical chemicals in the same proportions.  Hence we have Duradrin, Epidrin, Isocom, Migquin, Migratine, and Migrazone all are ‘called’ generics by insurance companies and you have to pay full price for Midrin®.   But as Midrin® never got a drug patent as it did not need it back then, it was only protected by trademark rights which after forty years we are assuming no longer offer trade protection.  But Midrin® had brand appeal in the Migraine world; there is no doubt about that.

Sadly for months now you have been told by your pharmacist that they no longer make Midrin, or they no longer make the generic Midrin you have used (maybe for decades!).  The later seems to be somewhat true.  To that fact, after extensive telephone calls it appears that Excellium Pharmaceuticals Inc. is the only so-called generic Midrin® maker still in production.

After talking to the FDA, we can tell you that they did not issue warning letters or take any action as they had earlier this year with the ergot Migraine drugs.  Those drugs were taken off the market to protect us. This time, no such action needed to be taken by the FDA regarding Midrin® or its counterparts.  So the good news is that Midrin® is still in production!  In addition, at least one generic is also still in production.

MAGNUM has determined that there are two different issues at play regarding the great Midrin® shortage of 2007.   One affects both name brand and generic makers, and is nothing more complicated than a shortage in obtaining sufficient supplies of the active ingredients.   The other issue is that we can only verify that one generic maker is still in production:  Excellium Pharmaceutical Inc., the maker of Epidrin capsules.  Duradrin, Isocom, Migquin, Migratine, and Migrazone look all-to-all to no long be available - adding to the perception of a 'shortage' of the popular Migraine medication.

We contacted Excellium Pharmaceutical, and spoke with Raj Desasi, with Public Relations and she informed MAGNUM that “They are doing everything they can do to increase production to meet the demand".  This is something that I hope will make you a bit happier today if you use this medication in your stratified care to better manage your Migraine!

Midrin® is a compound Migraine medication:

It contains the following:

acetaminophen 325mg
dichloralphenazone 100mg
isometheptene 65mg

Comments

[Dennis]

I also could not find Midrin at Riteaid or from my insurance plan. But I called my old plan Kaiser and they tell me they have Amidrine. This is odd I'm thinking that Kaiser is getting it first or they are getting it from outside the country.
I have only used Midrin for about 20 years is there another drug that works as well and won't cause worse problems?
Thanks
Dennis

[Albany Girl]

The owner of the branded drug "Midrin" is Caraco Pharma.

Based on the latest update which my pharmacy has received, Caraco was having some problems in the last qtr of 2007 related to raw material supplies. All the problems have now been resolved and they are back in production. We should start see supplies of Midrin on the shelves soon.

Also I have heard that the generic manufacturers who had old raw material in-stock and could supply product during this shortage, raised their prices drastically just to take advanatge of the situation. Thats one of the reasons many of the smaller pharmacies could not get this product.

I ended up buying some of these generic drugs (excedrin was the most prevalently available) and I know I had to pay double of what I usually paid. Shame on these companies who are trying to make a quick buck out of human misery.

I think I am goin to go back to Midrin even if cost a little bit higher just to hit these generic vultures where it hurts them the most ($$$$s)

[Mona]

I asked my doctor for a refill on my Midrin and he said it was no longer available. Is that correct?

[Kara]

Is this pill addictive? Does it help. Has anyone heard of shots in the nerve to kill it

[Kara]

Its still avaliable because i just picked up a prescription today.

[Wendy]

If anyone is posting that they ARE able to get Midrin or a form of it, please make sure you are writing which drug store has supplied it (re: the chain drugstores)... thanks!
A fellow Midrinless Migrainer (near N. Delaware in PA)

[Scott Hunter]

We were able to obtain generic Midrin on 6/11/08 from Rite Aid in Ontario, California.

[mike smithson]

has anyone ever had a positive drug test for methamphetamines after taking midrin?

[Ellen Ridings]

I get my Midrin at CVS Pharmacy here in Cedar Park Texas

[Julie]

I have had no problems having my Midrin prescription refilled each month at the Meijer pharmacy in Northwood, Ohio.

[Julie]

Re: the question about Midrin being addictive - I do not believe so. I take Midrin as needed at the first onset of a headache and only take it on avg. 2 days/week. It does help me. Very rarely do I need to take any additional pills to the two I take at the onset of a headache. I take this as a secondary medication to Pamelor which I take every day for my daily headaches/migraines. I no longer have daily headaches and I have maybe 1 migraine a month. These medications have been a godsend for me.

[Irene]

I just picked up a generic of Midrin. MFG: Interpharm: substituted for Midrin capsules. I says Isometh/apap/dicholor on the bottle.
Has anyone had palpitations from this med Thanks. Irene

[Andrea]

My doctor also told me it was not available anymore and gave me generic esgic. The only thing it did was relax my muscles so much that I couldn't hold my head up!!! I called area pharmacies and at least 2 of them at Kroger stores have it.

This is a life saver for me. I have never had any problems with it and it works quickly.

The pharmacy did say that the only thing they could get is the Isometh/apap/dicholor which is the same ingreadients as Midrin/Duridan and insurance companies consider it a generic even though the Midrin was never patent so there fore never a "name brand"

Good luck and just call around. It is out there!!!

[Gah]

I had a TON of problems finding it for a LONG time. Most recently I was able to get it at Target in Chicago, IL. My doctor gave me 6 refills and writes the rx for 1-2 pills every few hours, as needed... so I was able to go back and basically "stock up" since I finally found a place where it was available. It was in Epidrin form, btw. I now have a stock of about 300 pills. Kinda overkill maybe, but nothing else works for me.

[kate]

Walgreens is San Diego has it

[caroline]

i cannot find midrin anywhere! anyone know of anywhere in baltimore that has it? i got the generic (no name) and it does not work as well. is epidrin a good brand?

--bugging out in bmore

[Kathy]

For the person who asked about blood tests while taking Midrin. You can test positive for Ecstasy. My son's doctor gave him a big lecture about taking street drugs (which he does not, he doesn't even leave the house) before calling the lab and finding out that it's common to test positive for that while on Midrin.

[Joy]

Was prescribed Midrin but when I ran out went to Dr. to get refill he said it was now Epidrin. The isometh version without a name sucked had to take 10 pills in a day to get rid of a migraine. With Epidrin and Midrin only had to take 2 pills @ onset. CVS was the only pharmacy in Florida where I could get it in the Epidrin form.