America Has Shortage of Key Lead-Poisoning Drug
Supplies are running out for a key antidote for life-threatening lead poisoning. The drug, named dimercaprol, has been a go-to treatment for years for the worst cases of lead poisoning. But doctors have had to scrounge for dwindling doses since the medicine’ssole manufacturer for the U.S.
declared bankruptcy in February. Now that some parts of the country don’t have any supplies left, doctors have been forced to turn to other,less preferred treatments. “We’re using whatever we can get, knowing it will help, but not knowing if it’s doing as good of a job," said Dr.
Diane Calello, who directs the New Jersey Poison Control Center at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. One child who was severely poisoned after ingesting lead paint dust had to wait two days during the spring while Calello helped find dimercaprol and anotherantidote needed, she said. Certain chemotherapies, antibiotics and other drugs have gone into shortage in recent months, partly due to the squeeze confronting generic pharmaceutical companies that make some of the lower-margin treatments.
The Food and Drug Administration said it is working to find solutions for the dimercaprol shortage, perhaps including temporarily allowing hospitals to import foreign versions. But it can’t take advantage of one potential solution—extending the expiry date for current supplies—because dimercaprol’s U.S. manufacturer Akorn Pharmaceuticals isn’t operating and can’t provide the data needed to support extending shelf life.
Akorn didn’t respond to requests for comment. Making matters worse, doctors said, another antidote—edetate calcium disodium, or EDTA, often used in tandem with dimercaprol—is also in shortage. The FDA in October allowed hospitals to import a version of
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