Profits Over People Mean Drug Shortages and Suffering

COMMENTARY | Did you know that if you are diagnosed with cancer any time in the near future, you may not get the drugs you need to stay alive? News on WebMD states that patients are suffering as drug shortages snowball. I first read about drug shortages early last year, as some of my cancer survivor blogger friends dealt with the terror of trying to stay alive without the drugs they knew would keep their disease at bay. According to Daniel J. DeNoon of WebMD, shortages have been going on since 2001 and are steadily increasing.

The WebMD article specifically mentions leukemia drugs. I provide massage therapy in a children's hospital, and many of the patients I see are fighting leukemia. Modern medicine has made enormous strides in the treatment of this childhood cancer. Some types of leukemia are largely curable with the right chemotherapy. Without it, these children will not beat their cancer and they will die. How can this be? In whose world is this acceptable?

In April last year, ABC News made a video about a shortage of cytarabine, a drug used to treat leukemia. Not having this drug means that people will die needlessly.

In June, ABC News published another video, about a Taxol shortage. I am alive today because my aggressive cancer was successfully treated in 2007 with Adriamycin, Cytoxan, Herceptin and Taxol. I was 45 years old, and my children were 7 and 9. Not having Taxol available has terrifying consequences. The speculation is that Taxol production has slowed because it is a generic drug, rendering the profit margin insignificant. A doctor on the video said, "this is not where the money is, so it does paint an unfavorable picture of the industry." Indeed.

Last week, an article was published on the Vancouver Sun about a Canadian company suspending production of numerous drugs, as it makes adjustments to bring the company into compliance with safety regulations. Why wasn't it meeting these in the first place? Profits?

Another problem is that drug companies have been under no obligation to report impending shortages to the Food and Drug Administration, so the FDA has not had the opportunity to try and prevent shortages.

Fortunately, last year President Obama signed into law legislation mandating that drug companies alert the FDA of impending shortages, so a solution can be found before lifesaving drugs become unavailable. Slowly, public awareness is growing and people are putting pressure on our lawmakers to address this problem proactively before it gets worse. Unfortunately, this does not address the needs of patients who are doing without right now.

As I approach the five-year anniversary of my diagnosis, I shudder to think what would happen to me if my cancer recurred and there was no Herceptin or Tykerb for me. I would probably die. This is the reality for many of today's cancer patients.

I hope no one you love is diagnosed with a life-threatening illness until the drug companies get their priorities straight.

Elizabeth Danu is a survivor of inflammatory breast cancer, celebrating five years on Feb. 22. She maintains a cancer resource blog at the Liberation of Persephone.

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In Mexico, Prison Riot Kills at Least 44 People

The authorities in Mexico’s Nuevo León State said a confrontation between inmates in two cellblocks broke out around 2 a.m. Sunday and lasted a few hours before the state and federal police could bring the prison, in Apodaca, under control.

Jorge Domene, a spokesman for the state government, said it appeared that members of Los Zetas and the Gulf Cartel, two of Mexico’s most powerful criminal groups, started the fight as part of a power struggle, using sharp objects, stones and clubs. He said firearms were not used.

The riot was the deadliest in a recent series of prison riots, including those in which 31 people died last month in Tamaulipas State and 20 were killed there in October. In Durango State, 23 people were killed in 2010.

Deadly rioting is commonplace in Mexican and Central American prisons as a drug war rages among criminal groups and government forces, filling prisons and jails well beyond their capacity. Local news reports said that the prison in Apodaca held 3,000 inmates but was built for 1,500.

Harsh overcrowding played a role in the fire last week that killed 359 people at a prison in central Honduras; it was one of the deadliest prison fires anywhere in decades. Officials were investigating the cause, including the possibility that an inmate had set fire to a mattress.

That prison held more than 850 inmates, twice its capacity. As in Mexico, many prisoners were being held on drug charges in a country overrun by drug-trafficking gangs shipping cocaine to the United States and beyond.

Supervisors at the prison in Mexico were being held as part of the investigation, which Mr. Domene said would also determine whether guards took part.

In other prisons, inmates have been known to bribe guards for parties, drugs, prostitutes, cellphones, TVs, even their freedom.

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