FDA daily evaluates the pharmaceutical supply for a wide variety of drugs to assess shortage issues.
Despite the fact that there is no public health event in the U.S. requiring KI, FDA is aware of an increased demand for KI products. FDA is working with these companies to facilitate increased production. FDA can’t provide an exact date on when that might happen but it will occur as quickly as possible.
Due to public concern related to the nuclear incident in Japan, there is an increased demand for drugs used to prevent and treat harmful effects caused by radiation exposure or contamination with radioactive materials. At this time, however, the U.S. Government is not recommending that residents of the United States or its territories take potassium iodide, even as a preventative measure. According to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, all the available information continues to indicate that the U.S. Territories and the U.S. West Coast are not expected to experience any harmful levels of radioactivity. Based on this, it is not expected that U.S. citizens will need potassium iodide. Nonetheless, the FDA is working with manufacturers to facilitate increased production of this medicine as quickly as possible.
