Analysis of the Prevalence of Shortages of Oncology Drugs in the United States (2000-2014)

Abstract

117 (46%) with bisphosphonates and 19 (7%) with Ra-223. Further to this; 79% of these Ra-223 patients were also administered abiraterone or enzalutamide versus 21% who used it alone. Of patients on Ra-223, 11% had only bone metastases while 89% had bone plus one or more additional metastases. The majority of patients on Ra-223 had Gleason scores below 8 (84% ≤ 7). The average (median) PSA level was 114 (110) and 111 (40) at diagnosis and treatment, respectively. The average (median) time from diagnosis to development of CRPC was 375 days (305). ConClusions: Bone-targeted therapy is still dominated by denosumab and bisphosphonates. However, Ra-223 is the first BTA to actually improve survival. The real-world data used in this analysis shows that Ra-223 is not only used in patients whose cancer has spread to the bones but also in those whose cancer has spread to other organs. Though commonly administered with abiraterone or enzalutamide, Ra-223 is also given alone. The majority of patients treated with Ra-223 show a Gleason score of 7 and the average (median) PSA values are lower at treatment than at diagnosis. The analysis of Ra-223 patients has also identified the average time from diagnosis to development of CRPC.

Quantifying the persisting orphan-drug shortage public health crisis in the United States

“…In line with our finding that oncology was the most affected by OD shortages, shortage prevalence for oncology drugs in the US has been estimated at 35.8%, and 59–83% of US oncologists said that they faced shortages of cancer treatments [ 14 , 15 ]. However, in the former study, OD status was associated with lower shortage prevalence, suggesting that rare cancers are less affected by shortages than the more common cancers.…”