For the vast majority of cancer drugs experiencing shortages over a seven-year period, a new USC research study found no statistically significant effect of shortages on chemotherapy treatment.
"These findings are surprising in light of the substantial media and policy attention that the cancer drug shortage problem has garnered," said Mireille Jacobson, study coauthor and associate professor of gerontology at the USC Leonard Davis School and the Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics.
Although the proportion of patients receiving treatment declined for six drugs, including fluorouracil, doxorubicin, and cytarabine, the use of 32 other cancer drugs was unaffected or even increased during shortage episodes. Likewise, dosages declined for only a few drugs during shortages. The results were published April 8 in Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics.
Researchers noted that while the shortages may not have been noticeable from a treatment perspective, they may have come at personnel and psychic costs not measured by the study. "This study only measured one dimension of oncology drug shortages: the effect on utilization," said Jacobson.
Increasing oncology drug shortages raised alarms
The number of prescription drug shortages in the United States increased from 71 in 2005 to 255 in 2011, and shortages of oncology drugs more than doubled during that time period. Oncology drug shortages in particular have generated substantial attention from the media and policymakers because of concerns about treatment gaps and inadequate dosing. For cancers in which certain treatments are clinically preferred or no alternative exists, drug shortages may be life-threatening.
Until now, no studies have systematically analyzed the consequences of shortages nationwide. Using data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) cancer registries linked with Medicare claims, Jacobson and colleague Abby Alpert with the University of Pennsylvania set out to provide a more general analysis of the impact of oncology drug shortages on outpatient chemotherapy treatment.
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