House Oversight Committee advances probe of DEA response to prolonged shortages of Schedule II drugs

House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) and Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services Chairwoman Lisa McClain (R-Mich.) are pressing Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Administrator Anne Milgram for "documents and communications related to DEA’s impact on and response to the prolonged shortages of Schedule II drugs, including Adderall," according to an announcement on Tuesday.

The GOP leaders wrote a letter to Milgram as part of their investigation into the "growing number of critical drug shortages" that are negatively impacting Americans’ medical care.

“DEA’s mishandling of the APQ system resulting in shortages is not a new problem. In a 2015 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, DEA’s quota process was found to be ineffectively administered, leading to drug shortages.This report found that DEA consistently missed required time frames for establishing quotas for Schedule II substances and lacked performance measures to ensure quotas were adequate and meeting demand,” the lawmakers wrote in the letter. “It is critical that DEA work with pharmaceutical manufacturers, not against them, to provide regulatory support that reduces drug shortages and prevents abuse.”