(Image source: DoSomething.org)

BY EMILY SPAIN

A lifesaving drug that cures a form of childhood leukemia is running out.  Hospitals report their supplies may only last between days and a few weeks.  This has doctors and the FDA scrambling to keep kids alive.

KING has details on the shortage:

“The drug is called methotrexate and it’s used to treat leukemia...One of the reasons supply is so low right now is because a major supplier suspended operation.”

That supplier in Ohio says it stopped in November because of quality concerns.
Other manufacturers say they are trying to up their production. ABC News explains just how important the drug is.

DOCTOR: “...we’re telling families we may lose their children.”
REPORTER: “The drug for the most common form of leukemia works like magic, close to 90% of children are cured. There is no alternative.”

The type of cancer typically strikes children ages two to five and the FDA has deemed the drug shortage dire. And as the New York Times reports this isn’t the only lifesaving drug where supply is not meeting demand.

“So far this year, at least 180 drugs that are crucial for treating childhood leukemia, breast and colon cancer, infections and other diseases have been declared in short supply — a record number. Prices for some have risen as much as eightyfold.”

The New York Times reports the FDA is also looking to foreign suppliers to get emergency imports. In October, President Obama issued an executive order in hopes of making the FDA faster to respond to vital drug shortages.

Transcript by Newsy.