By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – It’s a matter of life and death: the availability, or lack thereof, of life-saving drugs. 

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) stopped by Simmons Cancer Institute in Springfield Wednesday to call attention to the shortage of cancer drugs — but that’s not all 

“To date, nearly 300 drugs are in short supply in the United States: from antibiotics to cardiac medicines to chemotherapy,” Durbin said, “representing a thirty percent increase in drug shortages over a one-year period of time.”

And Simmons oncologist Dr. Bob Mocharnuk says the shortage is not confined to this country, which – he and Durbin agree – still has the best medical care in the world.

“Europe is dealing with some of the same generic drug shortages that we’re dealing with,” said Mocharnuk. “I think that we do as good of a job as we can, given the limitations that we have.

“But we have challenges, and that’s why we are here to talk about those today.”

One suggestion: incentivize the production of generic drugs by giving the manufacturers some patent priority.

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected]