ADEQUAN back in stock, July 2013
9/16/13 – Adequan is back in stock
July 2013 – Adequan Backordered
Injectable Adequan (polysulfated glycosaminoglycan) used for equine, canine and feline joint disease is currently unavailable from the manufacturer.
Luitpold Animal Health, a division of Luitpold Pharmaceuticals, Inc., manufacturers Adequan® IM, Adequan® IA, and Adequan® Canine. Their New York manufacturing facility is undergoing significant renovations and upgrades to meet enhanced quality standards and address observations made by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). These renovations required cessation of manufacturing and affected Luitpold’s ability to release product. This has resulted in shortages in the marketplace. Luitpold had months to optimally allocate inventory and manage the limited supply, which has now been depleted. The company’s latest expectations for reestablishing Adequan® supply to the market is estimated to be first quarter 2014. However this hinges upon completion of a successful inspection by the FDA.
Please contact us about other alternatives available for your pet. Several of our staff have dogs on Adequan very successfully, so we understand how frustrating this situation will be.
Polysulfated glycosaminoglycan (Adequan) is one of the best products available for long-term arthritis therapy. Unfortunately when there is a long-term back order we have very few same equivalent options. Adequan has been unavailable worldwide since the first of 2013, and there will be a lot of internet scam artists who will be taking advantage of this temporary situation. The compounded version is “Adequan Compound”, which is acetyl-d glucosamine. Chemically it is not the same product nor does it work as well. There is a glucosamine hydrochloride injection available, yet it is labeled for daily IV use and not practical for long term therapy. Commercially available hyaluronate products have been around for a few years. Legend is such an example which must be given IV/intravenous or directly into the joint (IA/intra-articular). Very few clients should give an injection IV. Hyaluronic acid is for IA injections. Polyglycan is also a hyaluronate products and use only for IV or IA injections. These intravenous or intrarticular injections are good products, yet the additional expense may not be indicated for the average horse for this temporary shortage. Pentosan polysulfated is a hemicellulose extract and can help stimulate cartilage repair; orally it is not absorbed very well yet the IM or IA injectable forms are available to be given weekly ($55+ cost/horse). The APVMA approval number that you may see for some medicines is the Australian pesticide and medicine container registry. The APVMA it is not even related to a FDA or USDA drug approval or facilities inspection program. Many of the internet pharmacies selling these products are illegally importing and selling to consumers, and many do not even have a pharmacy license in our state.
For dogs we are recommending Dasuquin, Cosequin or one of the other proven products that help orally. Since there are no oral products that has passed the FDA drug trials; we will recommend Adequan again when it comes back onto the market.
For horses we are recommending using the glucosamine hydrochloride form (Cosequin) until the Adequan injections are back onto the market in 2014. Since oral glucosamines do not work in ruminants the pentosan product is recommended for these species.
For comparing glucosamine products, such as the glucosamine hydrochloride (HCl) formulation to the glucosamine sulfate forms, one can go to www.consumerlab.com. We have more information on the comparisons of glucosamines if requested. It is a well known fact that many supplements do not provide enough glucosamine in the product that they are selling; a 1,000# horse requires 10,800 mg a day, and a 100# dog requires 2000 mg of the chloride formulation; each species has a different requirement.