The FDA has warned that a number of cancer drugs are in short supply, Elizabeth Tracey reports

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What accounts for the variety of cancer drugs the FDA has recently announced are in short supply? William Nelson, director of the Kimmel Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, says there are at least two issues.

Nelson: There are a number of drugs that are currently in short supply. They’re an interesting collection of probably different problems and it means this is a multifactorial problem that will probably require a lot of thinking to get fully around. One of the ones that was highlighted in the report was a drug called Pluvicto that’s the brand-name by Novartis which is a brand new drug so when a brand new drug is approved and everybody seems to want it also they haven’t been manufacturing it for many years so things aren’t perfectly perfected, the supply chain and all these things.  :29

Nelson says these kinds of shortages due to a need to streamline manufacturing practices may not require additional intervention on the part of the FDA, although waits for those who may need the drug clinically may persist. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.