Generic cancer drug shortages traced back to dollars and cents
THIS is why cancer patients are SCRAMBLING for affordable chemo
Friend, Big Pharma is SCREWING OVER some of the most VULNERABLE patients out there…
And the feds are doing NOTHING about it!
I’m talking about people with cancer…
Folks who’ve gone to hell and back… or who are STILL going through hell.
Mainstream medicine treats too many cancer patients SOLEY with traditional means…
Like POISONING the cancer with chemotherapy.
But now, there aren’t enough of those meds to go around…
FORCING those with cancer to do the UNIMAGINABLE… and RATION their supplies.
Although there isn’t a direct REPLACEMENT for Big Pharma’s cancer drugs… there ARE ways of MAXIMIZING their potential…
So, you could possibly CONQUER cancer while using LOWER doses… or LESS FREQUENT treatments.
I’ll share those with you in a moment…
But first, I want to talk about what’s at the heart of this problem.
And friend, I’m sure you won’t be SHOCKED when I tell you that it’s money – pure and simple.
See, cheap generic versions of chemo… ones that are so affordable, nearly EVERYONE could access them… just don’t turn enough of a profit for drug makers.
Take, for instance, one of the cancer drugs experiencing a shortage right now – cisplatin.
It’s used to treat cancers of the bladder… ovaries… cervix… and more. It’s even been credited for helping make testicular cancer CURABLE.
But it’s OLD NEWS to Big Pharma, which got the green light for it from the FDA all the way back in 1978.
And with the passage of time… and the EXPIRATION of patents… the price has taken a NOSEDIVE.
It’s not just cancer drugs… but the entire generics industry as a whole. The inexpensive meds get CROWDED OUT of the market by new “breakthrough” drugs with whopping price tags – some totaling up to tens of thousands of dollars a year.
In the case of cisplatin, U.S. companies don’t even want to BOTHER making it anymore… which is driving the manufacturing of generics OVERSEAS.
I’m talking countries like China… India… and more.
OUTSIDE our own country, the FDA can do less to control factory conditions… or quality of the finished product.
And if the feds DO find something wrong with a foreign drug-making operation… and have to SHUT IT DOWN…
There’s NO guarantee that another maker will pick up the slack and RAMP UP their operations to keep the supply afloat.
The agency COULD be doing more… but it’s NOT.
A “draft guidance” to address drug shortages was created in 2022 as part of the CARES Act, adopted in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic…
But more than a year later… no FINAL recommendations have been made.
And the Drug Shortages Task Force that was assembled at the beginning of 2023 is “missing in action,” according to a recent report by STAT.
That was a successor to ANOTHER drug shortages task force established by the FDA in 2018… which CLEARLY wasn’t able to prevent the current situation.
But that’s bureaucracy for ya.
In the meantime, mainstream cancer docs are between a rock and a hard place…
STRUGGLING to choose which patients get the drugs… and which ones DON’T.
In some cases, it’s come down to whether the cisplatin is anticipated to CURE the cancer… or simply SLOW the progression.
If you’ve got a cancer that’s considered ADVANCED… and you’re not expected to SURVIVE it… you might not get care that could buy you a little extra time.
But mainstream approaches like chemo aren’t your ONLY option.
A substance called squalene… found in olive oil… has been found to help cisplatin WORK BETTER in treating colon cancer.
That’s not all…
Because a compound found in chaga mushroom… called betulin… has been found to be MORE POTENT against lung cancer tumors than cisplatin.
And according to one in vitro study, extracts from the herb pau d’arco were MORE POWERFUL than cisplatin when it came to KILLING esophageal cancer cells.
Of course, if you’re fighting cancer and find yourself up against a shortage of a drug your doc has prescribed… don’t take matters into your own hands and try to treat your own cancer without drugs.
But if you’re interested in BROADENING your horizons when it comes to potential cancer therapies… and incorporating some complementary approaches…
Consult an integrative oncologist who can suggest some ways of extending your reach BEYOND the traditional pharmacy.
In pursuit of the truth,
Dr. Marc Micozzi M.D., Ph.D.