Doctors and hospitals around the country are reporting a critical shortage of a key cancer treatment drug. Suddenly there is a critical shortage of methotrexate, a key treatment for a common childhood cancer called acute lymphoblastic leukemia known as ALL.

The FDA says the main reason for the shortages is manufacturing definciences. But shortages are resulting from drug companies halting production; as a generic drug, there is not a large profit margin attached to manufacturing it.

As a board member of the St. Baldricks Foundation, which raises money for childhood cancer research, I am outraged. Research has brought us to the point where doctors can cure nearly 90 percent of the roughly 3,500 American children and teens diagnosed with ALL. Now that pharmaceutical companies can’t make a profit, they are cutting back on drug production. Without this drug, people and particularly young children, may die.

Some hospitals say they may run out of the drug within weeks, increasing the chances that patients could die. It's a crying shame!

And, drug companies are making new brand-name drugs that do not cure anymore, but just extend life. The New York Times reports these drugs cost $90,000 per patient, but the older drugs that can actually cure cancer cost as little as $3 per dose, those of which in short supply.

Call your congressman and demand they pressure these companies to do the right thing.



The Associated Press contributed to this article.