Critical situation of bone marrow transplantation: information distribution regarding the problem of a shortage of bone marrow filters.

摘要

Many drugs and devices are essential to conduct hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). The hematopoietic transplant community has been influenced by numerous drug and device shortages over the past several years in both Japan and other countries. This problem has included critical drugs for hematopoietic transplantations such as gancycrlo-vir, dexamethasone, lenograstim, imipenam, and ce-phepime. Recently, the discontinuation in the supply of the anticancer drug thio-tepa was announced by a pharmaceutical company in Japan; however, this process and decision were not sufficiently disclosed by the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare (MHLW). As a result, the hematopoietic transplant communities are thus considered to urgently require the establishment of effective management in the event of such future crises.