Cancer Meds in U.S. Are in Short Supply
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on August 21st, 2011 4:42 am by HL
Cancer Meds in U.S. Are in Short Supply
A record 180 medicines used to treat cancers and a number of other diseases and infections are in short supply in the U.S. this year, and as a result prices for some have skyrocketed to as much as 20 times the original cost. Some clinical trials for new drugs have been delayed because researchers must also offer the older, short-supply medicines for comparison’s sake. Lawmakers and health care officials are working to find solutions to the supply problem, including possibly stockpiling cancer medications the way the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention already does with antibiotics in case of terrorist attacks or natural disasters. In the article below, The New York Times looks at the forces causing the problem. —BF The New York Times: A crucial problem is disconnection between the free market and required government regulation. Prices for many older medicines are low until the drugs are in short supply; then prices soar. But these higher prices do little to encourage more supply, because it can be difficult and expensive to overcome the technical and regulatory hurdles. And if supplies return to normal, prices plunge. Executives at Premier, a hospital buying cooperative, said that in April and May its members received hundreds of offers from obscure drug wholesalers to sell drugs in short supply at vastly inflated prices. Of the 636 offers that included a price, 45 percent were at least 10 times the normal rate and 27 percent were at least 20 times normal. Such sales offers are legal as long as suppliers prove that they bought the drugs appropriately. Read more
A record 180 medicines used to treat cancers and a number of other diseases and infections are in short supply in the U.S. this year, and as a result prices for some have skyrocketed to as much as 20 times the original cost.
Some clinical trials for new drugs have been delayed because researchers must also offer the older, short-supply medicines for comparison’s sake.
Lawmakers and health care officials are working to find solutions to the supply problem, including possibly stockpiling cancer medications the way the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention already does with antibiotics in case of terrorist attacks or natural disasters.
In the article below, The New York Times looks at the forces causing the problem. —BF
The New York Times:
A crucial problem is disconnection between the free market and required government regulation. Prices for many older medicines are low until the drugs are in short supply; then prices soar. But these higher prices do little to encourage more supply, because it can be difficult and expensive to overcome the technical and regulatory hurdles. And if supplies return to normal, prices plunge.
Executives at Premier, a hospital buying cooperative, said that in April and May its members received hundreds of offers from obscure drug wholesalers to sell drugs in short supply at vastly inflated prices. Of the 636 offers that included a price, 45 percent were at least 10 times the normal rate and 27 percent were at least 20 times normal.
Such sales offers are legal as long as suppliers prove that they bought the drugs appropriately.
Related Entries
- October 9, 2010 Reopen Sesame
- May 1, 2010 Continental to Be United
U.K. Rioters: Young, Poor, Male and Unemployed
The Guardian put together a database of court cases of those detained during and after the unrest that swept London in early August after Metropolitan Police shot 29-year-old Mark Duggan in the city’s Tottenham neighborhood. British Prime Minister David Cameron said the riots “were not about poverty,” but analysis showed that 41 percent of rioting suspects within the judicial system live in areas that rank in the top 10 percent of the most economically dispossessed places in the country, with 66 percent of the neighborhoods in which the accused live having become poorer between 2007 and 2010. Heavy youth unemployment, child poverty and lack of educational opportunity were found in almost all of the areas where rioting was the worst. More then 90 percent of the accused are male. Review the list of cases and convictions so far here. —ARK The Guardian: Based on unprecedented access to information from magistrates courts across England, the Guardian’s data project gives a new insight into the riots, shedding light on those accused of involvement, from their age and gender to the length of sentences being handed down. … He [Liverpool University urban planning lecturer Alex Singleton] found that the majority of people who have appeared in court live in poor neighbourhoods, with 41% of suspects living in one of the top 10% of most deprived places in the country. The data also shows that 66% of neighbourhoods where the accused live got poorer between 2007 and 2010. … The Guardian database adds further detail to these statistics and appears to confirm that the accused are overwhelmingly young, male and often unemployed. Read more
The Guardian put together a database of court cases of those detained during and after the unrest that swept London in early August after Metropolitan Police shot 29-year-old Mark Duggan in the city’s Tottenham neighborhood.
British Prime Minister David Cameron said the riots “were not about poverty,” but analysis showed that 41 percent of rioting suspects within the judicial system live in areas that rank in the top 10 percent of the most economically dispossessed places in the country, with 66 percent of the neighborhoods in which the accused live having become poorer between 2007 and 2010. Heavy youth unemployment, child poverty and lack of educational opportunity were found in almost all of the areas where rioting was the worst. More then 90 percent of the accused are male.
Review the list of cases and convictions so far here. —ARK
The Guardian:
Based on unprecedented access to information from magistrates courts across England, the Guardian’s data project gives a new insight into the riots, shedding light on those accused of involvement, from their age and gender to the length of sentences being handed down.
… He [Liverpool University urban planning lecturer Alex Singleton] found that the majority of people who have appeared in court live in poor neighbourhoods, with 41% of suspects living in one of the top 10% of most deprived places in the country. The data also shows that 66% of neighbourhoods where the accused live got poorer between 2007 and 2010.
… The Guardian database adds further detail to these statistics and appears to confirm that the accused are overwhelmingly young, male and often unemployed.
Related Entries
- October 9, 2010 Reopen Sesame
- May 1, 2010 Continental to Be United
