This is unique only to the Alpha-1 community. A sole manufacturer with a single product continues to make our community very vulnerable. We have experienced numerous shortages in the past due to a variety of reasons. As of a few weeks ago the Alpha-1 patient community is facing a total lack of any product at all. While we are being told that the manufacturer anticipates the distribution to resume in late May, thousands of people in precariously poor health are left without this life-sustaining product to see them through until then.
Any lung infection can cause loss of valuable lung function.
Too many times in the past we have watched our friends lose their battle as a lung infection causes their death. In a community of less than 10,000, the last issue of the Alpha-1 News had six pages of memorials. We have young children losing their parents. We also have young, very sick adults unable to participate in parenting much less the workforce. This situation has reached critical mass.