WCAX.COM Local Vermont News, Weather and Sports-Cancer patients struggle with drug shortage

Concord, New Hampshire - August 23, 2011

"Mostly, I was shocked," cancer patient Deborah Campbell said. "I just stood there, 'You don't have my drug?'"

Campbell has been fighting stage 4 breast cancer since 2008. Recently, her doctors at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston prescribed the chemotherapy drug Doxil. A treatment that would allow her to live with her cancer but with no major symptoms or bad side effects. But two weeks ago when she showed up for her second round of chemo, her doctors said there was a waiting list for Doxil.

"Give me a good reason that you think it's all right to tell people who are fighting life and death issues that they can't have the medication they need," Campbell said. "They are keeping the tools out of the doctors' hands."

Hospitals across the country are being forced to ration certain drugs because some pharmaceutical companies have either slowed or stopped productions. There are a number of reasons why, but here is what patients can do. Call ahead to your doctor or hospital to find out if the drug you need is available. Ask your doctor about alternatives to your treatment or see if your treatment can be delayed until the drug you do need is available.

Campbell is taking an alternative drug although the side effects are far more severe. But she worries this situation will only get worse unless something is done.

"There are people I see at Dana Farber every time I go who are bald, who are thin and wasted away, trying to fight this disease. And they are not allowed to get their treatments," she said.

Once the FDA finds out a drug company is slowing down production, it takes some time for competitors to quickly fill that void. Congress is considering a bill that would require companies to tell the FDA when they have a problem that could result in a shortage or else face some big fines.

CNN