Appeal for more cancer-fighting drugs amid shortage
Published:Monday | September 30, 2024 | 12:10 AMCarl Gilchrist/Gleaner Writer
With reports of a widespread shortage of cancer-fighting drugs on the international market, Jamaica is reported to be among several countries being impacted by the dip in supply.
Concerns about availability of the drugs came into sharp focus over the weekend with Dr Michelle Reece Mills, paediatric haematologist and oncologist at The University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) citing the need for more support to ease the shortage locally.
“I really think it has to be a national [effort]. We have to go beyond just one set of people trying to contribute, the sensitivity to say how can I contribute, how can I make a difference and to be guided more by the physicians in terms of what is actually needed,” Reece Mills said on Saturday, with Childhood Cancer Awareness Month coming to an end today.
“Unfortunately there are shortages that affect the availability of medication at different levels, but we certainly can encourage corporate sponsors to make a concerted effort,” she added.
In the United States, the shortage is having an impact on cancer treatment. In an article headlined ‘Generic Cancer Drugs Are Still In Short Supply’, published last January in the Cancer Cytopathology, an American Cancer Society journal, Bryn Nelson, PhD, and William Faquin, MD, PhD, spoke to the drug shortage, noting that, “By May 2023, 93 per cent of academic cancer centres reported a shortage of carboplatin, while roughly 70 per cent were short of cisplatin”. They cited a survey by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) as their source.
Rationing drugs
The article noted that, in January 2024, “the ongoing shortage has forced hospitals to continue rationing drugs and prompted new calls for federal investment and long-term solutions”.
Fortunately for Jamaica, the rate of cancer among children has not worsened significantly over the past year.
“We are not making as many strides as we would have liked, (but) we’re no worse than we were last year,” Reece Mills confirmed. She however stressed the importance of having drugs at hand.
“Without medication, we can’t get the children treated on a continuous basis, which is really what we need, so that’s a part of the challenge.
“There’s a lot more that needs to be done and we stay in the fight to see how we can make it happen,” the doctor pointed out.
Outside of drug treatment, Reece Mills said the focus should be on holistic care, as well as the psychological impact of the disease.
“There are certain long-term outcomes that are unavoidable, so you may be successfully treated; but we want to make sure that 10 and 15 years down the line you’re not having some complications that could have been avoided because you weren’t doing the monitoring.”
For the third straight year, Reece Mills collaborated with the Lions Club of Mona and Moon Palace Foundation Jamaica to host the free Dream Weekend for children with cancer, at the Moon Palace Jamaica in Ocho Rios, St Ann.
Dr Olivene Burke, president of the Lions Club, said by hosting the children for the Dream Weekend, the club was continuing its mission of recognising one of the global causes which include cancer, diabetes, vision, hunger and homelessness, education and youth, environment and climate-change.
“Childhood cancer, or cancer in general, is one of the global causes and so the club looks at all the global causes and we recognise and celebrate them even more in the month that they are more promoted.
“We have various times of public awareness. We go into the schools, we go into the universities, we go on the road, we go in the park and we bring awareness to the general global causes.”
Before heading to Ocho Rios, the club members were at the Bethel Baptist Church in Kingston, conducting eye screenings. One hundred and five adults received treatment.
“Our work never stops,” Burke said.
As an example, the Lions Club is scheduled to go to Tank-Weld on Tuesday and to the Offices of Utilities Regulation (OUR) on Thursday to conduct screenings at those locations. Every fourth Thursday, the club collaborates with the Church of the Ascension in Mona for its monthly feeding programme, providing meals for approximately 80 persons.