Concern grows as Memphis cancer centers face chemo drug shortages
A growing shortage of common cancer treatments is forcing doctors to switch medications and delaying care at Memphis area cancer centers and nationwide. The National Comprehensive Cancer Network said nearly all the centers it surveyed were dealing with shortages of the chemotherapies carboplatin and cisplatin. (Gerry Broome/AP file)
“Treatments are being skipped and delayed, doses are being reduced, treatment plans are being changed, and sequences of usual treatment are being altered,” said Dr. Sylvia Richey, chief medical officer at West Cancer Center & Research Institute.
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Baptist Cancer Center Drug shortages West Clinic Sylvia Richey pharmaceuticals Subscriber OnlyThank you for being a subscriber to The Daily Memphian. Your support is critical.
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Aisling Mäki
Aisling Mäki covers health care, banking and finance, technology and professions. After launching her career in news two decades ago, she worked in public relations for almost a decade before returning to journalism in 2022.
As a health care reporter, she’s collaborated with The Carter Center, earned awards from the Associated Press and Society of Professional Journalists and won a 2024 Tennessee Press Association first-place prize for her series on discrepancies in Shelby County life expectancy by ZIP code.
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