I read about the shortage of Cytarabine earlier in the year on the Leukemia forums, all I could think was thankfully my husband had completed his induction chemo, but had no idea that profit could be a motive. Instead I read about an ingredient being in short supply, still we really need to look at the for profit HC system in which we operate.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ivMElZKYOXp23d9PaCGSvtvsUfZA?docId=CNG.d98e4dcabe814b504fd30d7f2c0d0d9c.161"Only one of those five, Allied Medical -- which was singled out for offering a leukemia drug at over $990 per vial when the usual price was $12 -- returned an AFP request for comment, but refused to grant an on-the-record interview.
...Smith also described Obama's order as "a terrific start," but warned that it could make it easier for the gray market to function.
"If it just requires manufacturers to report a drug shortage, then people who are making money off this will find an obvious entry," he said.Europe has avoided the problem because oncologists do not have the incentive to administer more expensive drugs, and generics cost more while brand names generally cost 20 to 40 percent less than in the United States.
One solution could involve the US government partnering with cancer drug manufacturers the way it does with makers of low cost, unprofitable vaccines, to ensure companies are paid enough to supply the market, said Smith.
"Manufacturers won't make the drugs unless they have a stable demand and a stable profit," he said."
When the drug you need to cure a cancer is nowhere to be found
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health/when-the-drug-you-need-to-cure-a-cancer-is-nowhere-to-be-found/2011/04/11/AFH802zD_story.html"...The chemotherapy medication cytarabine was first approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1969. For four decades, it has been the backbone of AML treatment.With cytarabine combination chemotherapy, the cure rate in AML is 40 percent to 50 percent. Without cytarabine, there is no cure.
In December, it was added to the FDA’s drug shortage list. There is no therapeutic equivalent to cytarabine, and optimal treatment starting on Day One is critical to the cure. Simply put: No cytarabine, no cure. Never in my 30 years of treating patients with leukemia has such a drug shortage occurred, resulting in inadequate therapeutic options for patients.
Take, for example, the 43-year-old Kentucky father who got a substandard dose of cytarabine because his doctor used all the doses he could find but still didn’t have enough. “I don’t know what I’ll do next,” the doctor told me.
Or the 45-year-old retired Air Force lieutenant colonel from Colorado, father of an incoming Air Force Academy cadet, whose leukemia came back after six months. His doctor looked all over the state for cytarabine with no luck and so was forced to give his patient second-line therapy.
...Recently I sent out a plea on this national crisis to 8,000 oncologists who subscribe to a monthly e-mail newsletter published by the leukemia department at the MD Anderson Cancer Center. Within 12 hours, my in-box was jammed with replies from doctors in more than 25 states, each with his or her own horror story..."
FDA: Shortage Ends For A Leukemia Drug, But Others Remain
Read more:
http://www.foxbusiness.com/industries/2011/10/20/fda-shortage-ends-for-leukemia-drug-but-others-remain/#ixzz1fKyQsXTM"WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- The Food and Drug Administration said a shortage of the leukemia drug cytarabine has been resolved, although record shortages remain for cancer drugs and medicine used by hospitals for critical care.
Cytarabine has been in short supply for about a year, but the shortage became so severe in the spring that even top cancer centers were unable to get it at times.
Cytarabine is the main treatment for people with acute myeloid leukemia, or AML, and part of a treatment regimen for other types of blood cancers. For AML patients, there was no substitute drug.
...In 2010, Hospira had problems getting active ingredient used to make cytarabine. Then Hospira and APP Pharmaceuticals had problems with particles in some of the cytarabine vials, which temporarily stopped shipments of the medicine. The particles turned out to be tiny clumps of dried active ingredient..."
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