A nationwide shortage is making it difficult for hospitals to find crucial medications for treating cancer patients, an issue U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin highlighted during a visit Tuesday to Carle Health Methodist Hospital in Peoria.
“There are a variety of reasons for this,” said Durbin. “Fragile supply chains for generics, manufacturing problems, limited market competition and over reliance on materials from other countries.”
Durbin said he became aware of the problem after a letter from a constituent. In the letter, a woman described being unable to get the drugs needed for her mother’s chemotherapy.
In total, there are currently 300 drugs considered in short supply in the United States, including the generic cisplatin and carboplatin.
Durbin said the number represents a 30% increase in drug shortages since 2021.
Carle Health Peoria President Keith Knepp said when it comes to generic drugs, there may be only one or two manufacturing facilities producing them.
“We saw that when a hurricane hit Puerto Rico,” said Knepp. “We've seen it when tornadoes hit manufacturing facilities, take out the only factory and then we have a challenge.”
However, when a drug is unavailable, Knepp said the hospital doesn’t give up, often looking to other hospitals or health systems to share resources. Sometimes, they choose a close alternative to whatever medication is unavailable.
“We pursue all those avenues, you know, before we would give up on providing someone with the care that they need,” said Knepp.
The National Academies are developing a plan to effectively stockpile these medications to avoid shortages, said Durbin. Experts are using shortages and supply chain issues caused by the coronavirus pandemic as examples to inform their strategies.
In the meantime, the federal Food and Drug Administration has authorized importing an injectable version of cisplatin. Durbin hopes increased importing of medication will help fill in the gaps. But there are many factors to consider when using imports drugs as a long-term strategy.
“When you get into a pandemic situation, demand can skyrocket in a short period of time. And can you find providers that can respond to that kind of increase?” said Durbin. “And there's also a dependence on the supply chain when you're overseas.”
He also said political considerations, like the United States' fraught relationship with China, could make depending on imported medications more difficult.
