Can U.S. cancer drug shortages be fixed?

Roughly two million Individuals are anticipated to obtain a most cancers prognosis this yr. Some members of this already weak group will wind up dealing with what doctor Andrew Schuman just lately referred to as “a tragedy occurring in sluggish movement” — an ongoing, nationwide scarcity of vital oncology medication that routinely save or prolong the lives of youngsters and adults.

Talking at a March 22 Senate listening to on drug shortages, Schuman, a head and neck surgeon on the U.S. Division of Veterans Affairs, described the agonizing choices that medical doctors should make when vital medicines are briefly provide. “Ought to our restricted vials go to an older girl who was simply identified with lung most cancers? To a younger man who had already been efficiently taking it for his testicular most cancers? Or a child with neuroblastoma?” he requested. “As a health care provider who has devoted my life to combating most cancers, it’s laborious to specific how horrible it’s to face this type of tragedy.”