MINNEAPOLIS -- As if battling cancer isn't difficult enough, there is yet another drug shortage that affects kids with cancer and it has families here in the Twin Cities on edge.
"It's an exciting time and it's scary," says Melanie Bimson, Pierce's mother. After three years of chemotherapy, Pierce Bimson is cancer free.
Pierce was diagnosed with leukemia as a baby. His parents and doctors credit a drug called Methotrexate for saving his life. Methotrexate is a primary drug used to treat the most common and curable type of childhood cancer.
But the drug is now - suddenly - in short supply.
"Selfishly, I was thankful that Pierce was done and immediately I thought of all my friends whose children still need it," Melanie said. "It just doesn't even make sense."
In fact, all five pharmaceutical companies that make Methotrexate have either slowed or stopped production citing high demand or manufacturing delays. Parents and doctors are fearful kids will be left without the life saving treatment.
"In the last 50 years, we have made tremendous progress in leukemia treatment to a 90, sometimes 95, percent cure rate. We can't take chances because we can't get the drug," said Dr. Susan Sencer with Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota.
This shortage is just the latest in the largest nationwide shortage of critical medications in nearly a decade covering 180 drugs. Many parents and doctors blame drug companies, calling it deliberate. Older drugs just aren't as profitable as new ones.
Four-year-old Rowan, whose leukemia is in remission, received another round of Methotrexate Monday, a critical part of her treatment plan and that of so many others.
"We already live with uncertain futures with our kids," said Rowan's mother, Brenda Carr. "And to throw in something that really we shouldn't even have to worry about makes it even more difficult."
Lawmakers are still considering a bill that, if passed, would give the FDA more oversight over drug shortages. Last year, President Barack Obama issued an executive order.
There are two types of Methotrexate - one that is injected and the other in pill form. The pill form is not in short supply.
(Copyright 2012 KARE. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)