ReCAP: Association Between the Number of Suppliers for Critical Antineoplastics and Drug Shortages: Implications for Future Drug Shortages and Treatment [HEALTH POLICY]

QUESTION ASKED: Cancer drug shortages remain common in the United States and may force oncologists to prioritize patients for treatment, improvise standard treatment regimens, and potentially choose unproven treatment options for patients with curable disease. Because increased competition may reduce drug shortages, the objective of our study was to investigate the association between the number of suppliers for first-line breast, colon, and lung antineoplastics and resulting drug shortages. SUMMARY ANSWER: Among 35 antineoplastic drugs approved for first-line treatment of breast, colon, and lung cancer, we saw an overall increase in drug shortages over time (12.5%, 33.3%, and 0% of breast, colon, and lung cancer drugs experienced shortages in 2003 v 40.0%, 37.5%, and 54.5% in 2014). Having a small number of drug suppliers more than doubled the odds of shortages compared with a large number of suppliers (five or more, Table 1), although the results were only statistically significant with three to four suppliers (odds ratio = 2.6; P = .049) but not with one to two suppliers (odds ratio = 3.49; P = .105); however, one of the strongest risk factors for drug shortages was the age of the drug, with older drugs significantly more likely to experience shortages (P < .001). METHODS: Using the 2003-2014 Redbook and national drug shortage data from the University of Utah’s Drug Information Service, we used exploratory analysis and generalized mixed models to (1) quantify ti...
Source: Journal of Oncology Practice - Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Tags: Access to care, Legislative issues, Regulatory issues, Population and Observational Studies, Onco-Politics, Outcomes Research HEALTH POLICY Source Type: research