Generic Oncology Drug Shortage Means Unintended Healthcare Rationing

In cancer therapy, expensive drugs extend lives, while some cheap drugs save them.

Renowned oncologist and bio-ethicist Ezekiel J. Emanuel, MD, PhD inaugurated a regular New York Times op-ed gig earlier this month with commentary on generic cancer drug shortages.

Taking up a topic that has already been much discussed in both the professional media and the lay press, Emanuel observed that these drug shortages appear “to be the consequence of corporate decisions to cease production, or interruptions in production caused by money or quality problems, which manufacturers do not appear to be in a rush to fix.”

The gravity of this situation is widely acknowledged throughout the medical community. Dr. Hagop Kantarjian of the MD Anderson Cancer Center has gone so far as to observe that, in his opinion, the shortages of cytarabine have “affected life and death situations in the United States.”