TAMPA, Fla. — Doctors are calling the shortage of cancer drugs a national emergency.
It’s forcing many facilities to ration their supplies, causing patients more stress as they fight for their lives.
“In April, I found out I had triple-positive breast cancer. So, of course, for me—33, young, healthy—I was very surprised by the diagnosis,” said Arias Pitts.
Facing a shocking diagnosis, Pitts was then shocked again when she found out there was a shortage of the medication she needed.
“It’s definitely very stressful because you have cancer, so you’re navigating your new normal, but on top of that, you’re having to think about and process, 'What does this mean for treatment? Will I be cured from this now if I’m not able to get the drugs?'” said Pitts.
These are questions many patients are now asking themselves because the two therapies with the most critical shortages are Cisplatin and Carboplatin.
Both are crucial drugs in several different types of cancer treatments, leaving many patients without any good alternatives.
“This is not a new problem in America. The generic supply chain pricing and the challenges have been around for a long, long time. Unfortunately, in January of this year is when it all came to a head,” Florida Cancer Specialists CEO Nathan Walcker said.
“In January of this year is when it got so bad that we actually had to start to delay treatments for patients,” he added.
Walcker told ABC Action News that the shortage comes down to a few things:
- a huge spike in demand for cancer drugs, especially in Florida, because people delayed screenings due to the pandemic
- supply chain issues
- a lack of incentives for manufacturers to create the low-cost drugs
“At the end of the day, it’s just not advantageous for them. It’s not profitable for them to make these drugs,” said Walcker.
It’s leaving people like Pitts just waiting for a solution.
“You want a cure. So if you can’t get this drug, even enough of the drug—because that’s the other part, let’s say I can get some, but I may not get it for all of the treatments, how does that really affect treatment?” said Pitts.
“It’s time to make sure not just me but everybody who needs the drug is able to get it. If they have the resources and the capacity to fill the need, why aren’t they? I would say if you care about humanity, if you care about life itself, that you would do what you need to do to make this right,” she added.
Many facilities are having to schedule treatments on a day-by-day basis because their supply is so low.
“You go into one of our oncology offices, so we have about 100 in the state of Florida, and you literally have empty shelves. There’s something that is gut-wrenching and soul-crushing about walking into a clinic where you see hundreds of patients, if not thousands of patients, walk through the doors every day, that the shelves are empty,” said Walcker.
It’s gotten so dire that the FDAhas allowed a non-FDA-approved version of Cisplatin to be imported from China to increase the availability of the drug.
“We have six days of inventory on hand! And that’s after we got an influx based on what the FDA has done with allowing import from Chinese manufacturers,” said Walcker.
“How do you plan for that? Who gets treatment first? And candidly, it’s been a situation where we’re having to go day by day looking at our treatment schedules, looking at our list of patients, saying, 'This person should be getting it on this day, this person should be on that day.' It has created a challenge that is just unsustainable,” he added.
Health officials told ABC Action News this is the worst it’s ever been with people unable to get access to life-saving therapies.
Many groups, like Florida Cancer Specialists, are now advocating for change at the federal level.
“This is a call to action for the government candidly to look at how we are reimbursing and incentivizing the production of drugs like this,” said Walcker.
In the meantime, patients like Pitts hope these efforts will soon open the door to more life-saving supplies.
“I think it comes down to ethics and morals. What’s right? What’s right for the greater good? And we need this drug. They need to make sure that getting it to us is a top priority,” said Pitts.
“I just hope and pray for a miracle. I just say that whoever is listening out there, if you guys have the capacity or resources or whatever it takes to make sure that this shortage is no longer a thing, I hope and pray that on their hearts they do the right thing,” she added.
