Study: chemotherapy shortages negatively affecting cancer patients

Researchers at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and colleagues reported data from a retrospective analysis of Hodgkin's lymphoma patients indicating that chemotherapy shortages over the past three years may be negatively affecting cancer patients. In a perspective published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the researchers said there was a significantly lower two-year event-free survival (EFS) rate in Hodgkin's lymphoma patients when cyclophosphamide was substituted for mechlorethamine in a 12-week chemotherapy regimen following a shortage of mechlorethamine in 2009. According to the researchers, cyclophosphamide has been used to treat Hodgkin's lymphoma and has been considered a safe and effective alternative to mechlorethamine. The researchers were evaluating the impact of the substitution on 221 Hodgkin's lymphoma patients aged 3-21 years who were enrolled in a clinical trial for a seven-drug chemotherapy regimen. The two-year EFS was 88% for patients who received a chemotherapy regimen that included mechlorethamine vs. 75% for patients receiving a modified chemotherapy regimen containing cyclophosphamide (p=0.01). ...