Reporting by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, in partnership with STAT, reveals that at least a dozen brands of the crucial childhood cancer drug, asparaginase, have been proven to be poor quality. In some cases, brands fell well below the standard needed to treat cancer, and many have also been found to contain contaminants such as bacteria that could be harmful to patients.
In the past five years, these poor-quality brands have been shipped to more than 90 countries. Many receiving the drugs are low- and middle-income nations without strict regulatory authorities, but in several instances, substandard drugs have been imported into Western Europe and given to patients in Italy. At least seven manufacturers have continued to sell their products despite being warned that they do not meet minimum manufacturing quality standards. Experts estimate 70,000 children around the world are at risk, as contaminated and ineffective asparaginase slips through global safety nets.
“What’s happening here is a disaster,” said Professor Vaskar Saha, director of the Tata Translational Cancer Research Centre in Kolkata. The vast majority of children with ALL are in poor countries. “This is an issue of money, resources, and equity.”
Read the full article here by Rose Furneaux
