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We were unable to process your request. Please try again later. If you continue to have this issue please contact customerservice@slackinc.com. Back to Healio Key takeaways: All centers surveyed report shortages of at least one medication, and 22.5% report shortages of at least five agents. Most centers say the impact of drug shortages today is \u201cabout the same\u201d as 3 years ago. U.S. cancer centers continue to experience persistent shortages of medications that are foundational components of oncology care, according to survey results. All cancer centers that participated in a late-summer survey administered by National Comprehensive Cancer Network reported current shortages of at least one cancer medication. One in five centers reported shortages of at least five different medications.
Although medical societies, policymakers and the press have paid closer attention to the issue in recent years, nearly all centers surveyed indicated the impact of drug shortages is \u201cabout the same\u201d today as in 2023. Crystal S. Denlinger, MD \u201cThis has really become more of a chronic condition than an acute problem,\u201d Crystal S. Denlinger, MD, CEO of NCCN and a medical oncologist at Fox Chase Cancer Center, told Healio. \u201cIt is disappointing that we have not moved the needle as much as we would have liked over the last few years, despite the fact that we have been raising the alarm and there has been increased conversation about this topic.\u201d Preserving the foundation As Healio previously reported, persistent and prolonged drug shortages across the country are affecting delivery of care across more than 100 therapeutic areas. They are lasting longer than ever, with the average duration exceeding 5 years, according to an analysis from United States Pharmacopeia (USP), a scientific nonprofit. Although drug shortages in oncology are not new, NCCN began surveying member institutions about their impact a few years ago amid concerns about a shortage of the generic chemotherapy drugs cisplatin and carboplatin. The organization conducted two surveys in 2023 and another in 2024. NCCN\u2019s most recent survey, administered in August to its member institutions, suggests generic cancer medication shortages continue to have widespread impacts across the country. The survey \u2014 to which pharmacy directors and other clinical or administrative leaders from 31 institutions responded \u2014 showed: All centers continue to experience a shortage of at least one anti-cancer agent; 87.1% are experiencing shortages of at least two agents, and 22.5% reported shortages of at least five agents; 94% reported a shortage of ifosfamide, an IV chemotherapy medication used to treat bladder and ovarian cancer, sarcomas, leukemia, lymphoma and other malignancies; 71% reported a shortage of carboplatin, comparable to findings of a fall 2023 survey; 51.6% reported shortages of Bacillus Calmette Gu\u00e9rin, used to treat bladder cancer; 16% reported cisplatin shortages, down from 59% in fall 2023; and 39% reported drug shortages have affected clinical trials at their centers. The challenges extend beyond academic medical centers. Three-quarters (77%) of centers surveyed indicate that drug shortages are affecting community practices in their areas. \u201cWe have seen tremendous progress in cancer care and that has led to the development of many effective therapies,\u201d Denlinger said. \u201cBut that doesn\u2019t mean the contribution of older cytotoxic drugs \u2014 the ones that are more often now generic \u2014 should be discounted. In fact, a lot of the progress we have made is built on the foundation of those older regimens. Cancer care is built incrementally, and we have to make sure that those foundations remain available.\u201d \u2018Agility and resilience\u2019 The survey revealed some silver linings. Nearly all centers (93%) indicated they have been able to continue treating all patients according to intended dose and schedule, although a higher percentage did so with mitigation strategies than without (61% vs. 32%). The most common mitigation strategies include waste management (79%), limiting use of current stock (43%), using the minimum value of a recommended dose range (32%) and using the maximum value of a recommended treatment interval range (21%). A majority of centers (71%) reported having a multidisciplinary committee in place to address issues related to drug shortages. Centers report relying on these committees to notify clinical staff of interim protocols (95%), develop therapeutic substitution protocols or other conservation strategies (91%), track inventory or forecast health system shortages (86%), or create prioritization or allocation criteria when supply must be rationed (82%). This best practice reduces the need for centers to \u201creinvent the wheel\u201d when new shortages arise, Denlinger said. \u201cIt is heartening to see that organizations have been able to respond with agility and resilience,\u201d Denlinger said. \u201cThey have created infrastructure that they can rely on when there is a shortage, and they have mitigation strategies that work so they do not have to delay or discontinue treatment.\u201d However, 90% of centers indicated they have been required to re-obtain prior authorization at some point when treatment plans are modified or altered because of drug shortages, and 17% indicated that re-obtaining prior authorization due to shortage-prompted treatment modifications resulted in treatment delays. \u2018This isn\u2019t an easy fix\u2019 Despite greater attention placed on drug shortages the past few years, the overall landscape has not improved much, survey results suggest. When asked if national or state policies enacted since 2023 have had an impact on drug shortages, 4% of centers reported seeing improvement, whereas 96% indicated the situation is \u201cabout the same.\u201d The USP report released earlier this year pointed to several key drivers of shortages across specialties. Low prices for generic medicines often result in slim margins for manufacturers, reducing their willingness to enter or stay in a market. \u201cEconomics are at play here,\u201d Denlinger said. \u201cGeneric drugs are not necessarily celebrated as an important component of oncology care, so we have to make sure there<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3647,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3646"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3646\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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