ATLANTA — A pharmaceutical company says it will re-introduce a vital childhood cancer drug it stopped producing in June, helping set off a critical shortage
Israeli company Teva Pharmaceuticals said in a Facebook post it will again manufacture the drug vincristine, and at its U.S. plant, "which provides the fastest route to market."
The company says the drug will be available again as soon as 2020.
Teva faced heavy pressure after its decision to discontinue producing the drug, which it called a "business decision" at the time.
Shortages, which Teva said it couldn't have anticipated when it made the decision because the company was not the dominant producer of the drug, put the treatment of scores of childhood cancer patients in a vulnerable position. Doctors were forced to follow guidelines to determine which critical patients need the drug the most.
"Teva takes very seriously the importance of vincristine. We also understand the passion and pain that healthcare providers, parents and patients may feel," the company's statement on Facebook said. "Because vincristine is such a lifesaving medicine - and there is no reliable single supply anticipated in the near term - we have decided to reintroduce the product."
The company said there was "no indication at all of a possible shortage" when it stopped production of vincristine. It claims it was supplying only 3 percent of the market, "anticipating that that volume could quickly and easily be absorbed by the brand manufacturer, which was supplying the other 97 percent."
When Teva ceased production, it left Pfizer as the only producer of the drug, and when they hit a production snag, it caused ripple effects for pediatric patients.
The news will be welcome to patients like Ethan Daniels, whom 11Alive's Kaitlyn Ross reported last month was told at one appointment there wasn't enough of the drug to treat him that day.
"I'm actually scared, I'm scared for me. I'm scared for my friends," Ethan said at the time. "I'm scared for every kid that's fighting cancer."
"This shouldn't be happening," Ethan added. "The drug is so important - it's life-changing. It saves lives," he added. "It's as my mom said, 'the backbone of all chemos' and all treatments and now it just goes to a stop? I'm just scared."
A public movement in the past months, which included a 100,000-signature petition to the White House, was able to restore some circulation of the drug, helping patients like Ethan.
That same public pressure will now fully restore the supply cycle.
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