Doctors and cancer patients are struggling because of a nationwide shortage of certain medications. The shortage includes chemotherapy drugs used to treat cancer patients.
Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse is taking action to combat the problem. The Pharmacy Department sends internal updates regularly on drug shortages and supply levels. The updates are assessed daily.
In some cases, the pharmacy can find the necessary drugs at other pharmacies, or doctors can substitute other drugs.
Still, Dr. Leslie Kohman, the medical director at Upstate Cancer Center, says the shortage is a scary situation.
"This is a real problem for patients," says Kohman. "One of the worst parts is that manufacturers are not required to give any notice, they're not required to give any reason, and they're not required to state how long this shortage will last."
Kohman says, in some cases, the drug shortage could affect the outcome of the cancer. She says testicular cancer is almost totally curable with a specific chemotherapy drug, but if that drug is not available, some patients have had to take a drug which is 10-15% less effective.
The FDA monitors drug shortages. Taxol is one of hundreds of drugs that are on a national shortage list.
The Institute for Safe Medication Practices has put out a "Medication Safety Alert," in which it lists some of the causes of the shortage. They include the unavailability of bulk and raw materials used to produce the pharmaceuticals, voluntary recalls of drugs, a change in the manufacturer or product formulation, manufacturer mergers that narrow the focus of product lines, and unexpected increases in demand for a drug.
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