PUDUCHERRY: Several cancer patients remain apprehensive as their life hangs in balance with Cancer drugs, particularly oral chemotherapy drugs going out of stock in Puducherry.
In the wake of lockdown due to COVID-19 , the Regional Cancer Centre (RCC) at JIPMER had prescribed oral chemotherapy for several patients undergoing chemotherapy.
However chemotherapy drugs like Capecitabine , Imatinib, Gefitinib are no longer available in Amrit pharmacy at JIPMER premises(sold at discounted price), nor in other pharmacies in the market.
Capecitabine, is an orally-administered chemotherapeutic agent used in the treatment of metastatic breast and colorectal cancers.
Imatinib, another chemotherapy drug sold under the brand name Gleevec among others, is a medication used to treat leukemia (whose cancer is controlled), certain types of gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GIST), while Gefitinib is a drug used to treat lung cancer and certain other cancers.
With the non-availability, cancer patients are caught between devil and deep sea of COVID-19 and cancer.
A 56 year old woman who was detected with breast cancer some four months back has been on chemotherapy at RCC, JIPMER.
But after the lock down she was prescribed capecitabine 500 mg , 5 per day in divided doses for 14 days.
"But now after exhausting the medicines, we are unable to get the drug in Amrit pharmacy. We tried other medical shops, but nowhere it is available,” says her brother.
She is not a lone case, as several others are in the same boat.
JIPMER has issued letters to around 8 to 10 such patients to allow their relatives to travel to Chennai to get the drugs prescribed as it is not available in Puducherry, Dr Biswajit D, Additional Professor, Medical Oncology, Regional Cancer Centre( RCC), JIPMER told Express. They can show the letter at the checkposts and travel, he said.
Due to huge demand, the stocks have exhausted even in JIPMER.
Never before in the last 10 years, have the stocks exhausted. The distributors are not replenishing the supply, as they are reluctant to travel to Chennai or other places to pick up the drugs, due to spurt in COVID-19 cases.
There is also shortfall in production of cancer drugs, as 70 percent of the pharmaceutical companies are importing the raw material from China, said Dr Biswajit.
With the intervention of RCC, JIPMER, the distributor was convinced to send a vehicle to Chennai to pick up the drugs on Friday, he said adding that hopefully the drugs should be available by Saturday.
Injectable chemotherapy is a risk now, as it will cause a lot of immunosuppression and if the patient gets infected by COVID-19 by coming to hospital, the mortality will be very high, much higher than the elderly population, said Dr Biswajit.
Oral Chemotherapy drugs, though are not as effective as injectable Chemotherapy, but in the present circumstances it is better, as it will less weaken the immune system, as well as the patient can take at the safety of home and less risk of getting infected by COVID-19.
However patients say that government should intervene and take steps to make the drugs available.
The drugs are not the only issue, some patients need immediate surgery otherwise their cancer will spread and lead to mortality.
With no such surgery taken up, these patients wonder whether they would succumb to COVID-19 or cancer.