AURORA - Doctors and cancer patients are struggling with a nationwide shortage of medications. Chemotherapy drugs used to treat cancer patients are in critically short supply.
According to the University of Colorado School of Pharmacy, 180 drugs are in shortage nationwide, 17 of which are used to treat cancer. Many of the drugs in short supply are generic.
Professor Cindy O'Bryant says the shortage is due to problems with drug quality, shortages in materials used to produce the drugs, and money.
"When you look at oncology products, they're very difficult to make. They require lots of special manufacturing procedures, so not a lot of companies will pursue making those additional medications once they become generic because it's not profitable for them," she said.
Colon cancer patient Carol Gill says this has created some major problems for her every-other-week treatment.
"For a little over two years I've been on a very standard treatment regimen with three different drugs," Gill said.
Gill says her oncologist informed her that her treatment would be reduced to only two drugs for an indefinite period of time because the third, generic drug has not been resupplied to her hospital.
"It's like going to the store and finding out they're out of aspirin," she said.
Officials with the University of Colorado Hospital says Gill isn't alone, and doctors have been forced to pursue alternate forms of treatment for patients.
"Some people are being switched to different regimens if possible," O'Bryant said.
That isn't always an option.
"In some cases, that cancer drug may be the only drug of its type," O'Bryant said.
O'Bryant says there are cases where treatment with a specific drug may be the only way a patient might be cured.
"Pretty much every drug we give is a medical necessity and it's a huge concern for us who are really trying to efficaciously treat our patients to make sure they have a good outcome," O'Bryant said.
Many hospitals are trying to come up with long term plans that take the drug shortages into account.
Dr. Rupa Subramainian specializes in breast cancer.
"We've really been talking to our nurses and our case managers. They've been planning ahead by looking at how much drug would be needed, anticipating the volume that we have," Subramanian said.
The FDA monitors drug shortages, though there are no requirements for pharmaceutical companies to alert hospitals about impending drug shortages, and they are not obligated to provide hospitals with any information about when, and if, they choose to produce more drugs.
Some federal lawmakers have proposed measures that do provide some hope for hospitals and patients. It is new legislation that would make it much quicker for pharmaceutical companies to get new drugs on the market and monetary incentives for companies to produce generic drugs.
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