Welcome to Obamacare

You know at some point when you can't make any money on something, people just quit making it...........

Doris Silber enrolled in a clinical trial excited about a potential new cancer medicine but ended up frustrated over an old drug.

The trial combined something experimental, tacotanib, with Doxil, an established chemotherapy treatment. Silber, a Belle Meade resident fighting ovarian cancer, can’t get the Doxil. It’s one of many medicines on an ever-growing list of drug shortages. The number of drug shortages tripled from 2005 to 2010 in the U.S. Despite meetings last year among government officials, physicians, pharmacists and manufacturers to address the problem, the shortages continue. Another meeting occurred last week with no magic answer.

My first treatment with the Doxil was on Aug. 3,” Silber said. “I was supposed to get the next cycle, which would start on Aug. 31. But it was not available.”

She is still waiting.

Doxil is one of 74 currently on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s drug shortage list because of manufacturing delays, increased demand or a company ceasing to make it. The drugs range from the sedative lorazepam to an injectable form of Vitamin D called calcitriol.

Many of the drugs are old-line treatments with low profit margins for their makers.

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