Group Sends Letter Calling on Azar to Protect Kids with Cancer

Restore Public Trust’s letter calls on Secretary Azar to intervene and prevent a crisis-level shortage of a crucial pediatric cancer medication

WASHINGTON – Today, Restore Public Trust sent a letter to Health Secretary Alex Azar calling on him to intervene and protect American children from Teva Pharmaceuticals’ decision to stop supplying a critical pediatric cancer drug.

“Medications that literally save children’s lives should not be cost-prohibitive in the United States,”  said Lizzy Price, director of Restore Public Trust, in the letter to Azar. “The health department needs to stand up to the drug giants attempting to raise profit margins at the expense of some of our youngest, most vulnerable citizens. We implore Secretary Azar to reach into his broad network of connections to Big Pharma to ensure America doesn’t run out of the drug saving the lives of our children.”

One of the world’s largest drug manufacturers, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, recently announced its “business decision” to discontinue supplying Vincristine, a crucial drug used to treat cancer in children. Now, doctors are sounding the alarm to say that time is running out to stop a true shortage crisis. 

Restore Public Trust’s letter asks Secretary Azar, a former top executive at the pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly, to reach out to his vast network of Big Pharma connections to intervene in the company’s decision and prevent it from endangering the lives of some of the nation’s most vulnerable citizens.

Read the group’s full letter to Azar here.

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