Cancer drugs shortages persist in Poland

In Poland, the recent procurement problems of cancer drugs is far from solved, writes Sebastian Gensior on the europe-health-care.eu web site. While most of the hospitals received urgently needed drugs this week, health care experts argue that there will be problems throughout the year. The problems emerged when Swiss pharma major Novartis (NOVN: VX) generics drug unit Sandoz’s Austrian production facilities faced problems in early April.

Cancer centers throughout Poland ran out of cancer drugs and patients could not receive their needed medications. Polish hospitals in particular had vast problems in procuring the following cytotoxic drugs: etoposide, cisplatin, fluorouracil, doxorubicin, epirubicin and gemcitabine. The problems are, however, not only limited to Poland. There are similar reports from Switzerland where patients face shortages of drugs and hospitals have to buy cancer drugs in Germany, Mr Gensior notes.

Sandoz production problems in Austria