It is ironic that as oncologists struggle to get the time-tested, “good old drugs,” which are less expensive but nevertheless essential for many standard chemotherapy regimens, some drug companies are coming out with extremely expensive new drugs. It seems that in their quest for conquering new markets and providing new drug indications, none is looking out for the interests of our patients. Oncologists are the strongest advocates for their patients, and it is important that we are proactive when it comes to addressing the extremely sensitive topic of drug shortages. New, prohibitively expensive drugs might make sense from a dollars-and-cents perspective, but not from the patient or oncologist perspective.
In a Commentary on page 277, my co-editor Debra Patt examines the causes of the drug shortages and offers some possible solutions for alleviating them...
*For a PDF of the full article, click on the link to the left of this introduction.