A massive drug shortage in the United States has left thousands of children battling cancer as they struggle to find life-saving medications.
Hospitals turn away parents seeking medication for their children and only tell them to wait for supplies to be replenished, which could take another year.
Drug shortages reached an all-time high in 2023, with 309 reported according to American pharmacists, also representing a 30 percent increase from 2021.
And the data also estimates that eight in ten of the most commonly used pediatric cancer drugs have been in short supply over the past decade.
The shortage is said to be due to a lack of financial incentives among pharmaceutical companies, because the manufacturing of these drugs often does not generate large profits.
Access to these limited medications can mean the difference between life and death for patients, some as young as nine years old who fear “dying.”
Laura Bray, a Florida mother, learned firsthand about the drug shortage when her nine-year-old daughter was diagnosed with leukemia and the hospital ran out of the $10 medication she needed for treatment.
Pediatric cancer drugs are 90 percent more likely to be in short supply than other drugs, according to reports, and remain in short supply 30 percent longer on average.
Eighty-three percent of oncologists already say they have been unable to prescribe their preferred chemotherapy drug to patients due to shortages, according to a previous study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Methotrexate sodium, a chemotherapy drug used for leukemia, brain tumors and non-Hodgkin lymphoma, is among the pediatric cancer drugs most commonly in short supply.
Leucovorin, used to treat the side effects of methotrexate, such as nausea and mouth sores, is also often in short supply.
Although rare, about 16,000 children are diagnosed with cancer in the US each year, and children are only ten years old on average.
Leukemias and cancers of the brain and central nervous system are the most common forms of the disease diagnosed.
Among those caught in the shortage was nine-year-old Abby Bray of Tampa, Florida, who was told her leukemia had a 90 percent chance of being cured, but only if she could find treatment.
His mother Laura told him USA today: ‘I had no answers for her when she asked me if she was going to die if she didn’t have her medicine.
“The only thing I can say is that we are going to try to find him. Sometimes extraordinary things happen when you try.”
In another case, 15-year-old Brannon Warn-Johnston, who suffers from bone cancer, had his vital chemotherapy interrupted when a hospital ran out of the medication he needed.
Her family said: “They said they would give her an alternative medication, but that medication would affect her fertility, require additional surgeries and affect her treatment for the next many, many months.”
Bray said the average waiting list for the medication her daughter needed was 15 months, but “a patient fighting for their life doesn’t have 15 months.”
‘Most importantly, this alteration in his treatment plan jeopardized Brannon’s enrollment in his clinical trial. “We couldn’t believe this was the only option.”
Most drugs are generic, meaning they are cheap but manufacturers make little profit from them, which can lead to production disruption.
Almost all shortages (96 percent) are caused by problems within human control, such as manufacturing and supply and demand problems.
Both Abby and Brannon finally got their medications after a panicked round of various hospitals looking for supplies.
In 2019, Abby’s mother Laura launched Angels for Change, a volunteer-led group working to end the drug crisis by advocating for and building a resilient supply chain as well as a network of professionals. healthcare providers, providers, and people working to find medicines around the world. country to make shipments to patients in need.
The nonprofit organization’s Drug Shortage Crisis Hotline has had a 100 percent success rate over the past four years in linking childhood cancer patients to the medications they need.
He can be contacted by calling +1 813 501 7742 or by sending a message to organization website.
Abby, now 14 years old, is healthy and cancer-free.
Another factor driving the shortage is the United States’ dependence on material from China and India to make almost all drugs used in emergency care.
Foreign manufacturers registered with the FDA more than doubled between 2010 and 2015.
The FDA already has limited oversight of drug manufacturing, but transferring those responsibilities to foreign entities further complicates the process because the United States has no knowledge of manufacturing, quality or supply chain issues abroad.