Cancer patients across the US face medication shortages and delayed treatment.

A nationwide shortage of Cisplatin, a platinum-based infusion cancer treatment, is causing delays in life-sustaining cancer treatments, leaving patients and their families anxious. Michael Griffith, diagnosed with stage 4 cholangiocarcinoma, was receiving infusions with a combination of three medications but was recently told Cisplatin was no longer available, and now his cancer has grown. Kaiser Permanente, Griffith’s treatment provider, told KCRA 3 in a statement that the shortage is impacting all pharmacies in the United States and is a result of numerous factors, including the closure of a major manufacturing plant due to operational issues identified by the FDA.