U.S. cancer centers say a growing shortage of common treatments is forcing doctors to switch medications and delaying some care.
FILE - In this May 25, 2017 file photo, chemotherapy drugs are administered to a patient at a hospital in Chapel Hill, N.C. A growing shortage of common cancer treatments is forcing doctors to switch medications and delaying care, prominent U.S. cancer centers say. The National Comprehensive Cancer Network said Wednesday, June 7, 2023, that nearly all the centers it surveyed in late May 2023 were dealing with shortages of the chemotherapies carboplatin and cisplatin.
Dr. Kari Wisinski has had to turn to other treatments for some patients or switch the order in which people receive their drug combinations. She said she’s done that “hoping that within three months there will be a better carboplatin supply.” Of the 27 cancer centers that responded to the network’s survey, 25 reported a shortage of carboplatin. Among the cancer centers with shortages of carboplatin, more than a third said they were unable to treat all patients according to the intended dose and schedule.
“I think it went from being a shortage to being a really bad shortage really quickly,” he said. “There’s not a whole lot of room for it to get worse.” There were 301 active national drug shortages through this year’s first quarter, according to the University of Utah Drug Information Service.
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