CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Oncology doctors and nurses are working to find alternatives to two commonly used chemotherapy drugs as a national shortage continues.

At a Charlotte clinic, nurses and doctors said the shortages are impacting care, and could have life-altering consequences.

Doctor Nasfat Shehadeh said advancements in modern cancer treatment have made fighting the disease more complex than ever.

“We have to walk [patients] through this process, explain to the patient the stage of the cancer, the meaning of the cancer, the treatment. Because, the treatment also can be very complex,” Shehadeh said in his office at the clinic.

But now, a shortage of two very common and long-standing chemotherapy drugs is adding a new challenge.

“There has been some shortage over the last few years because of the COVID and all that stuff,” Shehadeh said.

Cisplatin and carboplatin are used to fight a variety of common cancers like lung, breast and colon, according to Shehadeh. In his 23 years practicing, Shehadeh added he’s never seen a shortage like this one.

The FDA says the most common causes of drug shortages are manufacturing and quality control issues.

“This is like a critical shortage that’s affecting significant percentage of our patients,” Shehadeh explained.

In the clinic’s mixing lab, clinic supervisor Rebekah Wynn said ordering medications and supplies for her office is just part of the job. Shehadeh and Wynn said in the last three to four months, staffers have had to troubleshoot to find the drugs for patients and it is impacting care.

“We start off by working closely with the doctors, seeing who needs to be treated right away, who can be maybe pushed back, and then we start to work on trying to make sure that we have access to enough that can fill their prescribed dose,” Wynn said.

Wynn added she and other nurses make the chemotherapy mixes here in the lab, and are forced to call other small clinics and area hospitals when they run out of the two drugs. 

“Try to provide it as close to their house as possible, but with the shortage, it’s been really hard to do that,” Wynn said.

The problem is not just limited to Charlotte and North Carolina.

“On Facebook, one of my friends who’s a nurse in Chicago talked about the shortage and how bad it was and having to reschedule patients and find the drug for them,” Wynn recalled.

Roughly 15% to 20% of patients at Oncology Specialists of Charlotte use one of the two drugs for their care and Dr. Shehadeh said it’s a supply issue, which needs to be cured.

“Without any question. There are some patients right now at risk, because they are not getting an effective treatment,” Shehadeh warned.

The American Society of Clinical Oncology called the shortage of the two drugs “severe,” and said it is being felt across the United States. The society urges clinic staff across the country to report local shortages to the FDA, and to their local federal representatives. 

In an update this month, the society says the FDA is now allowing imports of cisplatin to treat patients in the United States.