Platinum anticancer drug shortages

Abstract

The platinum-based chemotherapy drugs cisplatin, carboplatin, and oxaliplatin remain, despite their long-term use, as integral components in the treatment of more than 25 different human cancers. As such, shortages in their supply can have serious health and societal impacts on both the outcome and welfare of patients and on the healthcare systems as a whole. As all three drugs are no longer under patent protection, they are supplied in Australia, the U.S. and the U.K. by between four and 17 different pharmaceutical companies, which reduces the risk of drug shortages. Determining the number and impact of platinum drug shortages in various regions of the world is difficult because legislation to monitor shortages has only been passed recently. All three drugs have suffered from shortages since 2017 with the most common shortage being due to discontinuation of the drug by the company. Other causes include production disruptions, changes in customer demand, problems in supply such as transport and storages, and other reasons. The median duration of drug shortage is 22 days (shortest and longest supply shortages are 3 and 79 days, respectively). Shortages appear to be rare in developed western countries and western European countries, but more common in eastern European countries where platinum drugs are never available or are available only half of the time. This project highlights the lack of information available on platinum drug shortages and the end to further examine platinum drug shortages in regions that are more likely to be impacted, such as Africa, south-east Asia, central and southern America, and the Middle East.