A growing shortage of common cancer treatments is forcing doctors to switch medications and delay some treatments, leading US cancer centers say. The National Comprehensive Cancer Network said Wednesday that nearly every center it surveyed late last month was dealing with deficiencies in carboplatin and cisplatin, a pair of drugs used to treat a range of cancers. Some are no longer able to treat patients receiving carboplatin at the intended dose or schedule. Kari Wisinski has had to turn to other treatments for some patients or change the order in…
Read MoreTag: chemotherapy
Cancer patients are facing widespread shortages of chemotherapy drugs
Comment on this storyComment Cancer patients and their doctors are grappling with a record shortage of effective chemotherapy, putting their treatments and their lives at risk. Most are cheap generic drugs that have been used in cancer medicine for decades, says Satyajit Kosuri, clinical director of the stem cell transplant and cell therapy program at the University of Chicago, who has experienced the consequences firsthand. At the end of last year, there were 295 active drug shortages, ranging from antibiotics and anesthetics to cardiac mediations and chemotherapy drugs, according to…
Read More