Providing Care During Cancer Drug Shortages.

Abstract

Drug shortages have become a global phenomenon, reaching an all-time high and affecting nearly every therapeutic area of medicine. Even short-term drug shortages cause deleterious effects in critical populations such as our patients with cancer or blood disorders. The lack of available therapies leads to treatment delays and suboptimal regimens, and creates a strain on the health-care system (McBride et al., 2022). While cisplatin and carboplatin remain in short supply, hundreds of other drugs ranging from antibiotics to normal saline flushes and supportive mediations are also running low, plaguing patients and clinicians.