ATLANTA — Children who need the lifesaving cancer drug vincristine are finally getting it after a national shortage.
Thousands of people were outraged that kids fighting cancer could not get the only drug prescribed to save their lives.
11Alive spoke with one of the children who helped make the change. Ethan Daniels said he was scared weeks earlier when he went to get his treatment only to find out that there wasn't enough to go around.
After he was turned down, he was worried about his treatment plans and for all of his friends who are fighting cancer.
Fortunately, Ethan has been able to get his treatment.
"I want to say think you from the bottom of my heart because I am not able to go through this journey by myself," he said.
Daniels is grateful for all of the support of people across the country who were horrified he and kids like him couldn't get their treatment.
"It just helped knowing, reading the comments, seeing the concern, seeing the outrage, that others - even those that didn't even know Ethan were just as outraged as we were. It held us up," his mom Kelli said.
They were the only two companies in the country making the drug that is also the only option for children fighting certain types of cancer. Legally, the government can't force a company to produce a drug.
But more than 100,000 people signed a petition to the White House asking the government to intervene after pharmaceutical company Teva stopped making vincristine as a business decision. It left Pfizer as the only producer of the drug, and when they hit a production snag, it caused ripple effects for pediatric patients.
While Pfizer has been able to backfill the shortage in most hospitals, there are still some kids who are not getting the medicine, yet.
"It is so frustrating that not all kids are getting these makeup doses, and that even last week, some kids were getting half doses," Kelli said. "I am hoping, now, that this is the turning point."
In a letter, Pfizer said all children will get all of the medicine they need by January. But Kelli is still concerned.
"Now, we have the big questions. Why did it happen in the first place? How did this happen? And what are we going to do to make sure it never happens again?" she asked.
Vincristine is not under patent, so any company that got approval would be able to make it. However, it sells for about $5 a dose, so many families worry there's not enough of a financial incentive for a new company to begin production.
For now, Pfizer is the only company in the country to make it.
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