Global Courant
CHARLOTTE, NC – Commonly used cancer drugs are running out due to ongoing supply chain problems, forcing doctors to make tough decisions about how to treat patients, a new study finds
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) says that 90% of cancer centers in the US are experiencing shortages of two key drugs.
Doctors say this isn’t the first chemo deficiency they’ve faced, but it may be one of the hardest yet.
“We understand that some facilities in the United States do not have carboplatin or cisplatin available,” said Dr. Robert W. Carlson, the CEO of the NCCN.
CARBOPLATIN, CISPLATIN DRUG DEFICIENCY AFFECTING THE TREATMENT OF AMERICAN CANCER PATIENTS: ‘UNACCEPTABLE SITUATION’
Gail Lass needed carboplatin, but her doctor didn’t have any and wasn’t sure he could find it elsewhere. (Fox news)
Carlson says carboplatin and cisplatin are two of the most common chemotherapy drugs because they treat many types of cancer, such as lung and testicular cancer.
But at the moment not every patient has easy access to it.
“I was worried, because I didn’t want this to be extended,” says Gail Lass, who is being treated for stage 2 lung cancer in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Lass needed carboplatin, but her doctor didn’t have any and wasn’t sure he could find it elsewhere. Eventually, her doctor arranged for her to receive the chemo at a nearby hospital.
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“Usually one of us can get the drug, but it’s just become more challenging,” says Dr. Justin Favaro, a hematologist and oncologist with Oncology Specialists of Charlotte.
For now, Favaro says the drugs are given to people with stage 1, 2, or 3 cancers. That’s because the treatment aims to cure the cancer at those stages. Stage 4 is when other treatment options are considered.
“In stage 4, patients where they’re not necessarily curable. A small change from one drug or regimen to another wouldn’t necessarily shorten their lifespan,” Favaro said. It just wouldn’t necessarily be the ideal treatment that we would normally use.”
A National Comprehensive Cancer Network survey of 27 US cancer centers found that 93% reported carboplatin deficiency and 70% reported cisplatin deficiency. (Fox news)
It is estimated that cisplatin and other similar platinum-based drugs are prescribed for an estimated 10% to 20% of all cancer patients, according to the National Cancer Institute.
“It gets worse before it gets better,” Carlson predicted.
DRUG SHORTAGE IN CANCER, ASTHMA, TRANSPLANTATION, BACTERIAL INFECTION TREATMENTS
An NCCN survey of 27 US cancer centers found that 93% reported carboplatin deficiency and 70% reported cisplatin deficiency.
“Current estimates are that up to 500,000 cancer patients per year could be affected by the deficiency of these two agents,” Carlson said.
The US Food and Drug Administration recently said it would work with a Chinese drugmaker to import cisplatin to boost supplies for now.
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Registered Pharmacist Technician Dawn Deslippe labels a dose of Carboplatin for a cancer patient being treated at Windsor Regional Hospital in Ontario, just across the border from Detroit, Michigan. (Richard Lautens/Toronto Star via Getty Images)
“The FDA recognizes the potential impact that a lack of availability of certain products can have on healthcare providers and patients,” the FDA said in a statement to Fox News.
“While the agency does not manufacture drugs and cannot force a drug company to make a drug, make more of a drug, or change the distribution of a drug, the public should be assured that the FDA is working closely with numerous manufacturers and others in the supply chain to understand, mitigate, and prevent or mitigate the impact of intermittent or reduced availability of certain products.”
Dr. Carlson says it’s hard to know when conditions will improve.
Austin Westfall joined FOX News in 2021 as a multimedia reporter based in Charlotte.
