One or a friend has ever
gone through chemotherapy.
You know, the treatment
is hard but essential.
It's absolutely necessary.
So imagine doctors,
including here in Western New Y,
having to essentially decide whh
patients will get the treatmentt
and which might have to wait a .
That's because there is this national
shortage in some cancer drugs.
Many clinics and cancer centers,
including Roswell Park in Buffa,
only have one or two weeks wortf
supplies of drugs like sisplati.
And Carboplatin local Congressman Brian
Higgins has now signed a bipartn
letter urging the FDA to address these
shortages and supply chain issu,
to find a way to do more domestc
manufacturing so that we don't run into
these problems and thus these delays.
People who could otherwise be cd
are not getting the lifesaving
treatments that they deserve tht
are so essential to their survi.
This is an emergency situation,
Higgins said. While the issue
has been going on for a while,
it's really picked up of late but dates
back to about the beginning of this year.
Joining us live now to help proe
some insight on this is Dr.
William Day Hut.
He is the Chief Scientific Offir
with the American Cancer Societ.
Sir, it's really great to
have you on the show tonight.
I know this headline has been
startling to a bunch of people d
so I wonder if you can help expn
how widespread this shortage is
right now and what types of can.
Are impacted.
I think it's a real problem and I'm I'm
really glad you're highlighting it and
the comments made by the Congressman,
I can certainly completely concur with.
The concerns are that these
drugs are drugs used upfront in
cancer such as breast cancer,
head and neck cancer, bladder cancer,
testicular cancer and lung cancn
which you're trying to cure a patient.
And we're thinking it's perhaps almost
20% of of cancer patients actuay
would be receiving drugs like t.
So it's really a major problem.
Doctor, we heard the congressman there
bring up the issue that the US needs to
manufacture more of these drugs here.
How does your organization support this
effort or at least follow this effort?
And what can you tell us about, you know,
maybe it's kind of the efforts o
change some of those supply cha.
So I think the
issue is that a lot of these
drugs are generic drugs.
They're drugs that are still very effective,
but they've been off patent
for a long period of time.
And because of that,
there's really not a lot of incentive
for manufacturers to put money o
redundancy and keep the plants .
And many of the manufacturing drugs such
as these are not done in this country,
done off site.
And if you run into a problem,
whether it's a poor inspection r
whether there's a manufacturing fault,
there's really not the ability
for capacity to build things up.
So we need a safety net, you kn,
whether that's drugs produced in
this country or a supply somewh,
But some way when you run into an issue
that there's redundancy because these
are really lifesaving treatment.
Yeah, no doubt about that.
I want to play for you a littlet
more of what the congressman sa,
talking about the funding for all of this.
I'll get your reaction after we listen.
But the United States spends so much money,
so much money in drug development that
we are experiencing this is inexcusable.
We need to take decisive action.
Doctor, I think you might agree there.
We we spend all of this money and then to
deal with this shortage, just ballpark,
if you had to guess how much,
how much money are we talking
about is put into drug, cancer,
drug development and obviously
it's not a penny too much, righ?
I mean we need that funding. No,
there are billions spent
on cancer drug development.
And you know what will be noted
is that shortages do not tend
to occur on newer drugs that are
drugs still on patent and these
are the drugs we talked about
where prices are the highest.
These other drugs,
there's really very little proft
for the manufacturers And so soe
way to sort of have a balance
here where drugs that are still
effective are not very expensiv,
that there's still a motivation
for people to make them in,
in quantities in which we
can keep patients safe.
And Dr. Day Head,
I wanted to ask you about sort
of the the personal side of thi.
Anyone going through chemothera,
your hearts are are with them,
especially if they're having to
deal with something like this.
You also think about the doctor,
I mean are do you know of situas
in which because of the shortag.
An oncologist may have to say to a patient,
you might have to wait a littlet
longer or maybe prioritize some patients.
And I imagine that's just gut
wrenching for a physician.
No, it's it's a horrible situat.
You know, sometimes these drugs are used
in a more palliative setting and what's
the other alternatives that can be used?
But for for patients that can be cured
with these drugs and to have the
possibility that they're not available,
I think it's a horrible situatin
for the patients, the families d
in the community that are aroun.
We've, we've heard a lot from te
gynecologic oncologist because
they treat a lot of lot of these
tumors are affect women.
You know the breast cancer,
ovarian cancer and others and there's
dramatic shortages across the country.
So it's it's a very,
very treacherous situation.
Yeah. And something that we will
continue to follow and and hopet
gets better sooner rather than later.
Dr. William Day Head is the
Chief Scientific Officer with
the American Cancer Society.
You're busy man.
Sir, you're kind to take
some some time for us. Yeah.
Thanks so much for having
me on today. You bet.