Boehringer Ingelheim, parent company of Bedford Laboratories, reports that Bedford is shipping some leucovorin, but that improvements in its manufacturing facilities will cause some short-term interruptions.
In a statement, Boehringer Ingleheim says that five lots of intravenous leucovorin were released between late November and mid-December, providing about 175,000 vials. Another two lots are expect to be shipped before the end of 2008 containing another 167,000 vials.
According to the statement,
Bedford Laboratories will continue to work with the FDA drug shortage staff to provide updates on leucovorin.
Bedford Laboratories provides about half the leucovorin supply in the United States. Boehringer Ingelheim is currently completing a new manufacturing facility in Bedford, Ohio as part of its Ben Venue Laboratories / Bedford Laboratories subsidiary.
This unique 240,000 square foot, $140 million dedicated Cytotoxic/Genotoxic facility will serve our customers through the additional capacity it will provide and through offering state-of-the art technology and equipment in which to manufacture our products. Unfortunately, in the short-term, this is likely to cause some production interruptions. We anticipate resolution of these issues in the near future. Until such time, we will work diligently to fulfill our order commitments.
Recent leucovorin shortages have threatened colon and rectal cancer treatment and clinical trials that include 5-FU and leucovorin. Shortages concern both oncologists and their patients.
Leave a Reply
Your comments are welcome. However, specific medical advice will not be provided, and we urge you to consult with a qualified physician for diagnosis and for answers to your personal questions. FightCRC is not responsible for the medical accuracy of any comments left by persons other than FightCRC staff members. FightCRC staff members monitor comments and may respond publicly where appropriate.
Please note that we automatically publish the name that you enter next to your post. Also note that our pages are automatically indexed by Google and other search engines, and your name may therefore appear in search results on those sites. So if you wish to remain anonymous please use a different name or enter 'Anon' as the name.
We regret that we are unable to privately answer questions left as comments. So please do not include your phone number, email or mailing address in the body of your comment. For the best personal and direct response to your colorectal cancer treatment questions, please call our Answer Line at 1-877-4CRC-111 (1-877-427-2111).