A widespread shortage of prescription drugs is hampering the treatment of patients who have cancer, severe infections and other serious illnesses. While some Republican politicians have railed against the imaginary threat of rationing under health care reform, Congress has done nothing to alleviate the all-too-real rationing of lifesaving drugs caused by this crisis.And if the plans by the president, the Congress, and the FDA to remedy the shortage of vital drugs are not favored by the pharmaceutical companies, the government officials will face intense opposition from the drug company lobbyists, who are amongst the most powerful in the country.
The Food and Drug Administration says that some 180 medically important drugs have been in short supply, many of which are older, cheaper generic drugs administered by injection that have to be kept sterile from contamination.
A survey of 820 hospitals in June by the American Hospital Association found that almost all of them had experienced a shortage of at least one drug in the previous six months and that nearly half had experienced shortages of 21 or more drugs. As a result, more than 80 percent of the hospitals delayed needed treatments, almost 70 percent gave patients a less effective drug, and almost 80 percent rationed or restricted access to drugs.
From the article in the New York Times linked above:
“These shortages are just killing us,” said Dr. Michael Link, president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the nation’s largest alliance of cancer doctors. “These drugs save lives, and it’s unconscionable that medicines that cost a couple of bucks a vial are unavailable.”So it goes when the free market runs free. The profit margin on cheap generic drugs is small, so the incentive to produce the drugs hurts the bottom line of the drug companies. Of course, Republicans will counter that the situation is the result of too much government regulation. You decide.
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A group of leading oncologists has started a not-for-profit drug company that it hopes will soon be able to import supplies of some of the missing medicines. The company will eventually manufacture the drugs itself, according to Dr. George Tidmarsh, a pediatric oncologist and biotechnology entrepreneur who will lead it.
“We have a meeting with the F.D.A. next week,” Dr. Tidmarsh said. “This unfolding tragedy must stop, and right now.”
UPDATE: Please read IT's post on why we need the FDA. IT is a working scientist, and she knows whereof she speaks. One word should be enough to get your attention: Thalidomide. I'm old enough to remember the tragic results of inadequate testing of a new drug.
