America is facing a shortage of a drug that is used to treat children diagnosed with cancer. Parents of these children worry that they won't be able to get the much-needed treatment for their children. The doctors say that the shortage of this drug just shows a larger problem in America.
The drug shortage problem
Shortages are usually the result of an imbalance between supply and demand, and cancer patients are suffering from supply issues of their treatment drugs. A lot of cancer drugs that are used today are decades old, and they have lost their patent protection.
Due to competitive pressures, prices have dropped, and the manufacturing of these drugs has become consolidated to a few companies that supply the drugs. These companies have supply chains worldwide, from one or two production facilities to active pharmaceutical ingredients that are bought overseas.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, a drug regulator, has found manufacturing quality issues in some of the plants used in creating drugs, and it caused production interruptions not just in America but also in Canada.
Even when numerous suppliers can sell to the market, hospitals may use buying groups who buy select brands to get lower prices. As a result, the use is limited to one to two brands. If one company has a shortage, other companies may not be able to increase their production quickly enough.
How does the shortage affect a child with cancer?
When this happens, companies place orders on allocation, even if they are from hospitals, so the inventories may start to drop. Doctors do agree that one of the drugs that are on the shortage, vincristine, is needed for treating children with cancer.
Dr. Peter C. Adamson, chair of the children's oncology group and professor of pediatrics at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania, stated that vincristine is the most commonly used cancer drug for children with cancer and majority of them, with different types of cancer, need it. It is effective for a lot of cancers because it directly kills cancer cells.
Two companies, Pfizer and Teva, manufactured vincristine. Earlier this year, Teva stopped manufacturing the drug, and the FDA warned the public of potential shortages.
Adamson also said that he is appalled that the critical drug is in short supply in America when it is not short in supply in most of the rest of the world. This is a drug that companies and even the government must focus on as it can save thousands of lives of children with cancer.
