Only two weeks before lifesaving children's cancer drug is gone

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - University of Kansas Medical Center oncologists have joined thousands of others in the medical field in a letter writing campaign.

They are pleading with pharmaceutical companies to start making a children's cancer drug again.

Methotrexate slows the growth of cancer cells and saves lives, but in recent weeks it has been in critically short supply.

If production fails to resume, the University of Kansas Medical Center doctors say a key children's leukemia drug, injectionable Methotrexate, may be in supply only two more weeks nationwide.

University of Kansas Medical Center pediatric oncologist Dr. Stephen Smith explained why the shortage is dire.

"The track record has changed in the last 40 years," said Dr. Smith. "We're now able to cure about 90% of children with acute lymphoblasty leukemia and Methotrexate is one of the drugs that's made that possible."

According to the Food and Drug Administration, all five pharmaceutical companies that make injectionable Methotrexate have either slowed or stopped production all together.

Doctors nationwide and at University of Kansas Medical Center have pushed the companies to explain why.

Companies and experts cite high demand, a shortage of raw materials, manufacturing glitches and a lack of profitability as reasons why the supply has run short.

If the shortage continues, doctors said one of their key choices to cure leukemia would be gone.
 
"It's a critical shortage. It's a most important drug and we are afraid someone may die because of this," said Dr. Smith.

Doctors effort to petition companies to resume production may be paying off.

On Tuesday, the FDA said it believed the shortage of the life saving drug would be averted.

It said three companies have already responded and expect new releases by the end of the month.