On Monday, October 14, the NYT* released a story that TEVA Pharmaceuticals, the primary manufacturer of vincristine, was going to stop making it. Why? Of course, because it’s not profitable enough.
For those unaware, vincristine is a very common chemo drug, particularly used in childhood cancers. It has saved tens of thousands of lives and is the backbone of the treatment of childhood cancer-
“This is truly a nightmare situation,” said Dr. Yoram Unguru, a pediatric oncologist at the Herman and Walter Samuelson Children’s Hospital at Sinai in Baltimore. “Vincristine is our water. It’s our bread and butter. I can’t think of a disease in childhood cancer that doesn’t use vincristine.”
The only other company in the US that makes the drug is Pfizer, but they don’t and can’t turn out as much as Teva. However, they have ramped up production and are doing the best they can. But it won’t be enough. Many doctors have many hard decisions ahead.
“We are all devastated,” said Dr. Michael Link, a pediatric oncologist at the Stanford University School of Medicine and a former president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.
The problem is one that happens with many drugs eventually. Vincristine is an old, generic drug. These kinds of drugs, no matter how vital, become less and less monetarily valuable over time, so companies stop making them, no matter the cost in human lives. What to do?
Jessica Smith, a spokeswoman for Pfizer, said the company would expedite additional shipments of the drug over the next few weeks to “support three to four times our typical production output,” in an effort to make up for Teva’s withdrawal from the market.
Teva did not return numerous calls for comment.
Dr. Unguru said the survival rate for acute lymphoblastic leukemia, which accounts for nearly one-quarter of all cancers in children, is nearly 90 percent. But eight of the 10 drugs most commonly used to treat it have been unavailable at times over the past decade.
“This shouldn’t be happening in the United States,” said Dr. Peter Adamson, chair of the Children’s Oncology Group.
“It’s hard enough for any family having a kid with cancer, and having a child with cancer likely to be cured except we can’t give them the drug is beyond the imagination. How can we do that to families?”
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/…/call-our-government-step…
*NYT story by Roni Caryn Rabin