SEVERAL?SUPPLIES?of the cancer-fighting drug Paclitaxel should be in Barbados by today.
This was revealed yesterday by Paul Gibson, divisional manager at Lasco Barbados Ltd, one of the three local pharmaceutical companies supplying drugs to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH).
He was responding to an article in this newspaper, which reported that the hospital had run out of the popular drug and was unable to treat cancer patients.
Gibson told the DAILY?NATION that the hospital was not to blame.
“The QEH?on more than one occasion contacted us requesting the product. We placed an order for the drug about four or five months ago and it is only now arriving. None of the suppliers had the drug because we all have been waiting on the shipment from the international supplier,” he stated.
He pointed out that his company was able to supply the hospital with 125 phials yesterday and would provide the additional supplies today.
Gibson said the drug was very popular and was widely used to treat breast cancer patients.
However, he said Lasco was promoting another drug – Herceptin, produced by Roche – which he stated was more specific and more effective than other breast cancer drugs.
“It is being promoted to all the breast cancer subscribers in Barbados and it is available for breast cancer patients,” he said.
Meanwhile, at a Press conference yesterday, chief executive officer of the QEH, Dr Dexter James, said suppliers should be held accountable for the unavailability of drugs.
He stated that the hospital had received Paclitaxel from an independent contractor – Pharmacy Sales – yesterday after it realized that none of its suppliers had the drug.
James said the QEH?would recommend to the Barbados Drug Service that Pharmacy Sales be given a contract since they not only had the drug but sold it more cheaply than the other suppliers. (MB)
