Cancer patients can now donate their extra medicine to the Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital to allow fellow patients access to them, The Columbus Dispatch reported.
The hospital, part of The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center in Columbus, is accepting donations of two cancer drugs from cancer patients who no longer need them.
It will accept only capecitabine and temozolomide at first — both of which are used to treat several types of cancer — but hopes to add more drugs to the list in the future, the Dispatch reported.
Previously, patients could only donate unopened medication that was never picked up. Now, cancer patients can donate the two drugs and pharmacists will inspect them to ensure they're safe for use.
"This greatly expands the number of drugs that can be collected and redistributed to Ohioans who may have difficulty affording such medications," Shawn Wilt, president of the State of Ohio Board of Pharmacy, told the Dispatch.
All cancer patients at the hospital can apply to receive the donated drugs, which will be given to the patients who have been determined to have a financial need. The Arthur G. James Hospital is the only hospital in Ohio accepting the donated drugs.
Read the full article here.