Frustrated Oncologists Want Congress To Help Fix Cancer Drug Shortfalls
During a House hearing Tuesday on public health preparedness, lawmakers were urged by doctors to tackle supply shortages and skyrocketing costs of chemotherapy drugs and other cancer treatments.
The Hill:
Oncologists Urge Congress To Act On Cancer Drug Shortages
The House Energy & Commerce subcommittee on health held a hearing on Tuesday to examine avenues for improving preparedness against public health security risks. The hearing occurred amid an ongoing shortage of chemotherapy drugs in the U.S. ... “Frustration and outright anger do not begin to describe how I feel in reading heartbreak stories of patients with cancer not being able to receive treatment due to shortages of decades-old, low-cost generic drugs,” Ted Okon, executive director of the Community Oncology Alliance, told the House panel on Tuesday. (Weixel and Choi, 6/14)
Ohio Capital Journal:
Cancer Drug Shortages Decried In Congressional Hearing
There’s an acute shortage of injectable cancer drugs because manufacturers can’t make money off of them, two experts told a U.S. House subcommittee Tuesday. But it’s unclear whether chaos in the GOP Caucus that’s supposed to be running the chamber will allow for action. The testimony came before the Health Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. A subject of the hearing was to consider reauthorization of the Pandemic and All Hazards Preparedness Act, or PAHPA. It was passed in 2006 amid a threat of an Avian Influenza pandemic that didn’t materialize, but was used heavily during the coronavirus pandemic 14 years later. (Schladen, 6/15)
CIDRAP:
Life-Threatening Cancer Drug Shortages Are Result Of A Cascade Of Troubles
The current shortage of widely used cancer drugs—the result of a convergence of ongoing problems—is putting adults' and children's lives at risk in the United States and globally, experts say. ... Supplies of at least 20 chemotherapy drugs and adjuvants (drugs given to augment primary treatment or prevent adverse effects) are limited, including amifostine, capecitabine, carboplatin, cisplatin, dacarbazine, dexamethasone, docetaxel, fludarabine, fluorouracil, hydrocortisone injection, leucovorin, methotrexate, octreotide, ondansetron, paclitaxel, palifermin, and streptozocin, according to the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP), and azacytidine, cytarabine, lutetium lu 177 vipivotide tetraxetan, per the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). (Van Beusekom, 6/14)
Also —
Miami Herald:
Recall: Cancer, AIDS Drugs In Bipolar Disorder Drugs’ Boxes
Boxes labeled for a drug used for mental health patients actually had blister packets of a drug used to help patients dealing with AIDS or cancer treatments. The Harvard Group aka Major Pharmaceutical and Rugby Labatories recalled one lot each of Ziprasidone Hydrochloride, 20 mg strength, and Dronabinol capsules, 2.5 mg strength. The blister packs of Dronabinol were inside the boxes labeled for Ziprasidone, although the blister packs were labeled as containing Dronabinol. (Neal, 6/14)
