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While Ohio hospitals report adequate supplies of the cancer-fighting drug methotrexate, some officials are concerned about the lack of recent production.
Until late last year, five companies in the U.S. manufactured methotrexate, used to treat children and adults with acute lymphoblastic leukemia as well as children with other, less-common cancers. The drug cures up to 90 percent of children with ALL.
Four of those companies made a preservative-free version. So, when one of the biggest makers of the preservative-free methotrexate, Ben Venue Laboratories Inc., recently shut down its four factories in Bedford, Ohio, possibly for a year, due to serious quality problems, the on-again, off-again methotrexate shortage that began in late 2008 quickly turned into a crisis. That’s because the other companies cannot quickly pick up the slack.
“It has been our practice to stay ahead of the curve and stock as many drugs as we can when they are available,” Grace Rodney, a Children’s Medical Center of Dayton spokeswoman, said in an email to the Dayton Daily News. “As a result of this diligence, we have an adequate supply of methotrexate to treat our patients.”
Dayton Children’s has 32 patients who use the drug to treat acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
“We are attempting to walk the delicate balance of calming parent’s anxiety regarding our supply of this life-saving drug while strengthening the advocacy work that is required to increase the availability of this drug not only for our patients, but for all children diagnosed with ALL,” she added. “The national shortage of methotrexate is concerning and should be taken seriously.”
Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center didn’t have figures on how many patients need the drug, but the hospital has a supply to meet the need, a spokesman indicated.
“I don’t think it’s anything of our patients in the short run need to worry about,” said James Feuer, a hospital spokesman. “We’re in pretty good shape.”
Officials at Nationwide Children’s Hospital issued a statement saying they have enough of the drug right now but refused to answer further questions about their supply.
Brooke Crawford, pharmacy coordinator for clinical and research services at Ohio State University’s Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital, said their supply is being closely managed, and patients who can take something else with no ill effects are. Patient care has not been compromised, but word that Bedford isn’t likely to resume production before the end of this year is daunting, she said.
Two pharmaceutical makers have indicated both will release additional supplies this week and into March to meet demand, according to the information Dayton Children’s received, Rodney wrote.
Still, the medical center urged the community to contact members of Congress to emphasize the importance of the drug’s availability.
The hospital’s oncology group is working with medical associations and the Food and Drug Administration and the National Cancer Institute to address the shortage, she added.
According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, methotrexate has been prescribed to treat not only some forms of cancer, such as leukemia, but for severe psoriasis, a skin disease; rheumatoid arthritis; and less frequently to treat Crohn’s disease, which attacks the digestive tract; and multiple sclerosis.
The Columbus Dispatch and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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