Children’s cancer drugs in shortage as drug supply crisis drags on

Pediatric cancer doctors are sounding the alarm about a growing shortage of chemotherapy drugs for children.

The dwindling supplies add another layer to the ongoing cancer drug shortage crisis that’s left doctors scrambling and forced patients to make difficult choices about treatments since early February.

The Biden administration has taken steps to address the crisis, in some cases successfully: Doctors say that shortages of two cancer drugs, carboplatin and cisplatin, have eased significantly in recent weeks.

However, reports from children’s hospitals across the country are pointing to supply problems for two other chemotherapy drugs that are commonly used to treat pediatric cancers: vinblastine and dacarbazine. Another chemotherapy drug also often used in children, methotrexate, has been in short supply since March, and is still hard to come by.