Cancer drug shortages deliver ‘gut punch’ to patients unsure if their survival odds will be undercut
Mairéad McInerney will never know if changes in her treatment plan have undercut her odds of surviving stage 3 triple-negative breast cancer. Critical shortages in cancer drugs have forced her to change course not once, but twice.
The first time, her physicians flipped the order of her drug regimen because Taxol (paclitaxel), one of two drugs she was supposed to take, was not available, said McInerney, who was diagnosed in December 2022. Instead, McInerney started the other two chemotherapy drugs (Adriamycin and Cytoxan) in the regimen first, which differed from the standard treatment approach, she said.
