Scrambling for cancer drugs

Shortages are agonizing for patients, frustrating for doctors
By Carolyn Y. Johnson
Globe Staff / August 17, 2011

Ellen McCarthy was scheduled to receive her monthly dose of an ovarian cancer drug at Massachusetts General Hospital last month when she got distressing news: The hospital had run out.

There was a nationwide shortage of the drug, Doxil, but her medical team scrambled and after a few days of uncertainty located an extra vial at a clinic in suburban New York. The 60-year-old retiree drove with her husband and dog to Mount Kisco, N.Y., received the intravenous treatment, then headed back home to Martha’s Vineyard - a 10-hour round trip.

This week, McCarthy received Doxil at Mass. General. But with the manufacturer writing letters to physicians warning that the drug will be intermittently available in the months ahead, McCarthy doesn’t know what to expect. “And my life depends on it,’’ she said. “It never occurred to me in the course of treating my cancer, I was going to deal with a lack of supply.’’ the rest

“The biggest anxiety we have is [that] this the tip of an iceberg - and is this going to be a trend for the future?’’ said Dr. Michael Birrer, director of medical gynecologic oncology at Mass. General, who has sent patients to clinics in Maine, New York, and Western Massachusetts for Doxil, and also used an alternative form of the drug that carries side effects that have to be carefully managed.