BAUCUS CALLS HEARING TO EXAMINE NATIONAL DRUG SHORTAGE CRISIS HURTING MONTANA PATIENTS

December 7, 2011


***For Immediate Release***
BAUCUS CALLS HEARING TO EXAMINE NATIONAL DRUG SHORTAGE CRISIS HURTING MONTANA PATIENTS
Senator Brings Billings Cancer Doctor to Testify before Senate Panel
(Washington, D.C.) -- Montana's senior U.S. Senator Max Baucus brought Billings oncologist Dr. Pat Cobb to testify at a Senate hearing today regarding the national drug shortage crisis. Baucus called the hearing in response to concerns from Montanans who have suffered medical complications as a result of drug shortages. Baucus highlighted the story of Dawn Grayson from Billings whose infant son Tanner suffered severe chemical burns and permanent scaring because of a calcium shortage.
"It's absolutely unacceptable that, in the in the United States of America, mothers like Dawn aren't able to get their children the medicines they need," Baucus said. "We've got to find solutions to get patients the medicines they need right now and address the root causes of drug shortages to keep this from happening to even more families."
Dr. Cobb runs the Frontier Cancer Center in Billings. He shared how the shortage crisis is affecting his practice and patients.
"I have been a private practice oncologist in Billings Montana for the last 16 years," Cobb told the Senate Panel. "Every day patients come to me asking a simple, but critical, question: Can you help me? And for most of my career, the answer has generally been yes -- that is up until now. The recent shortage of generic chemotherapy drugs has significantly limited our treatment options, and in many cases has made treatments much more expensive than they have to be."
Dr. Cobb also shared the personal stories of two of his patients (watch HERE).

Dawn Grayson's story
This April, Dawn Grayson of Billings, MT, gave birth to a beautiful baby boy named Tanner. Tanner was born 11 weeks premature and developed necrotizing enterocolitis, a serious and sometimes fatal bowel infection. Tanner then had to be life-fighted to a hospital is Salt Lake City, Utah for emergency surgery.
Following the surgery, Tanner couldn't take a bottle like other babies because of his condition. Instead, he had to get all his nutrients, including calcium, through an I.V. mixture, known as Total Parenteral Nutrition (TPN). Calcium is a critical part of the TPN solution because it is necessary for muscle function and bone building, especially in young children.

But there was a national shortage on the type of calcium that Tanner needed for his TPN mixture. He could not go without calcium altogether. So, the hospital had to give Tanner a substitute that caused chemical burns and permanent scarring on his arm and foot. Dawn is concerned the scaring will affect her son's mobility as he gets older.
Quick Drug Shortage Facts:
• A recent survey of 820 hospitals preformed by the American Hospital Association, found almost all of those surveyed had experienced at least one drug shortage in the past six months and nearly half of surveyed hospitals experienced 21 or more shortages during the same time.

• More than half a million cancer patients were affected by drug shortages last year.

• Drug shortages are not a new problem. But the number of drugs and patients affected over the past several years has grown at an alarming rate. There were shortages on 211 drugs last year. That's up from 58 shortages in 2004.

• In October, the Associated Press reported at least 15 people had died as a result of drug shortages this year.

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News & Politics

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• Hearing