December 27, 2012
New research led by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital links chemo drug shortages to poorer outcomes in patients, calling further attention to the potential problems associated with multiple drug shortages in recent years.
A shortage of the drug mechlorethamine increased relapse among children, teenagers and young adults with Hodgkin lymphoma, the study found.
Estimated two-year cancer-free survival for those in the study fell from 88 to 75 percent after the drug cyclophosphamide was substituted for mechlorethamine. The study started before the drug shortages began. The mechlorethamine shortage began in 2009. No study patients have died, but those who relapsed received additional intensive therapy that is associated with higher odds for infertility and other health problems later.
An analysis comparing how patients in each group were faring two years after their cancer diagnoses appeared in the Dec. 27 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine.
In recent years, many patients and caregivers have had their medical care complicated by drug shortages, primarily of generic injectable drugs like mechlorethamine. Mechlorethamine, which has been used in cancer treatment since the 1960s, has only recently become available again.Posted by Misti Crane on December 27, 2012 12:41 PM