Physicians are turning to less effective treatment options for some liver cancer patients after Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Cerenovus discontinued production of an implantable chemotherapy pump known to significantly extend cancer patients' lives, reports The New York Times.
Here are seven things to know.
1. The hockey puck-sized device, implanted into a patient's abdomen, pumps out high doses of chemotherapy to treat liver cancer. The pump is used in conjunction with intravenous chemotherapy treatments to either shrink inoperable tumors or help prevent tumors from recurring after removal.
2. Cerenovus halted production for the devices, called Codman pumps, April 1. The devicemaker cited "significant and multiple raw material supply constraints within the manufacturing process" as its motivation for phasing out the pumps in an April 4 letter to physicians, according to The Times.
3. The manufacturing decision is forcing physicians to turn to less effective treatment options for some cancer patients. Nancy E. Kemeny, MD, a medical oncologist at New York City-based Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, said the hospital implanted 146 pumps last year, which cost about $7,000 to $11,000 each.
"I don't know what we're going to do," Dr. Kemeny, who has been treating patients with Codman pumps since the 1980s, told The Times. "They've increased survival more than anything else in this disease. … We have enough for another month or so."
4. Memorial Sloan Kettering has postponed at least 10 operations to implant the pump, and they are not alone. Physicians at hospitals nationwide have been forced to alert patients the pump may no longer be a viable treatment option or choose which patients receive the facility's remaining pumps.
5. Dr. Kemeny said she and other physicians wrote to Cerenovus requesting it continue making the pump, but the company refused. Cerenovus spokesperson Mindy Tinsley told The Times demand for the pumps was "very low," with the company selling about 300 of the devices annually in the U.S.
6. While the FDA does not have the authority to force devicemakers to sell a specific product, the agency can take steps to help address potential shortages of certain critical medical products, FDA spokesperson Angela Stark told Becker's Hospital Review via email.
7. Medtronic offers a device similar to the Codman pump that could potentially be used as a replacement. However, this device is only approved for use in the spine, not the liver.
"We acknowledge there is an important medical need for these patients, and physicians should use their best clinical judgment when evaluating the use of any commercially available pump outside of its labeling," Medtronic said in a statement cited by The Times.
Editor's note: This article was updated April 27 at 9:05 a.m. to clarify Ms. Stark's statement.