ARLINGTON — Imagine being diagnosed with cancer.
There is a drug that can cure you, but you can't get it because of a manufacturing shortage.
This life-and-death scenario is happening to thousands of cancer patients in North Texas and across the country.
Virginia Lloyd, 80 years old, is a fighter. She's been battling ovarian cancer for 13 years.
But the weapon she needs now to conquer this latest bout of disease isn't available
The FDA currently lists a shortage of 70 drugs, many of them used to treat cancer.
Dr. Barry Firstenberg, an oncologist at the Arlington Cancer Center, says this is a public health crisis. "There are no alternative drugs to use, especially in leukemia," he said.
The shortages are sometimes blamed on "manufacturing delays" or "supply issues." But some suspect it has to do with money (or the lack of it) when it comes to making generic cancer drugs, which aren't as profitable as name brand products.
"I don't know if that's because the price had come down to a point where the manufacturers said, 'Hey, it's not profitable for us to produce this anymore.' I don't know that for a fact," said pharmacy director Ken Heaton.
Heaton said he often doesn't know about a shortage until a doctor orders a drug. So he — and other pharmacists — stock up when they can.
"What all of this creates for us is a hoarding problem," Heaton said, and that affects supplies elsewhere.
More and more, doctors are designing alternative cancer treatment protocols that may not be as good.
In some cases, alternate therapies cost more. In others, insurance doesn't cover the treatment, so cancer patients have to do without.
"That means we have to delay treatment or they can't be treated or there is not a good second option," Dr. Firstenberg said, conceding that it could put lives in jeopardy.
Virginia Lloyd isn't getting the ovarian cancer drug her doctor wants. "I put it in the back of my mind and go on living," she said.
Now — more than ever — Lloyd is relying on a strong will to survive.
E-mail jstjames@wfaa.com
