4 out of 5 U.S. Oncologists Encounter Shortages of Cancer Drugs

A new survey shows cancer patients in the United States may be lacking critical drugs needed for treatments.

Information from 250 cancer doctors across the United States showed that as many as four out of five said they encountered shortages of essential medications between March and September of 2012. In turn, this affected the quality of care provided and increased treatment costs, according to the research.

"These drug shortages are persistent and pervasive," said lead author Dr. Keerthi Gogineni, a medical oncologist in the Abramson Cancer Center and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia."They are affecting the treatment of curable cancers, forcing physicians to improvise."

The survey notes that about 94 percent of doctors questioned said the shortages had an impact on some patients' treatments. And, as many as 83 percent were even unable to provide standard chemotherapy treatments.

Even drugs like Cytarabine, a common cancer drug used to treat leukemia, has become a concern for many health professionals due to shortages.

"That drug is the cornerstone of treatment for a common form of acute leukemia," said Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, via U.S. News and World Report, the deputy chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society. "To not have that drug when you need it is clearly problematic."

The survey found that cancer doctors have adapted to such shortages in different ways, including the following:

• 78 percent switched treatment regimens.
• 77 percent substituted alternate drugs part way through therapy.
• 43 percent delayed treatment.
• 37 percent had to choose which patients would receive the available medication.
• 29 percent omitted doses from a chemotherapy regimen.
• 20 percent reduced the required dosage.

"Clearly, it impacts the treatments patients receive," Lichtenfeld said. "It takes a long time to develop an understanding of effective drug regimens. When you can't use a proven effective drug and you have to go to an alternative plan, you certainly become concerned about the effect of that switch on the health of your patient."

The findings were presented Monday (June 3) at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago.