A spike in flu cases has many people searching for Tamiflu. However, it may be hard to find the drug due to a nationwide shortage of the generic version.
The generic liquid is back-ordered at many pharmacies across the country, making things difficult, especially for small family-owned pharmacies, according to Antonio Ciaccia with the Ohio Pharmacists Association.
That's partly because insurance companies are not covering the brand name Tamiflu – which means patients have to pay out of pocket very high prices for the drug.
Euclid Family Pharmacy told News 5 Thursday that the adult generic capsule is available, however, the liquid form for children is not.
Workers there have tried every day for the last several weeks to get children’s liquid, but either it's allocated or the drug isn’t available.
Some pharmacies have turned to "compounding" amid the shortage. They take the powder out of the capsule and put it into a liquid. From there, they sell it at a fraction of the price.
