Due to the global shortage of the biological drug Actamra for Corona patients, the Ministry of Health is guiding: Corona patients will stop receiving treatment with this drug.
Instead, patients will be treated with another drug, called barcitinib, which received emergency approval from the FDA last month for the treatment of hospitalized corona patients in need of added carbon, respiration or Acmo.
The inventory that was in the hospitals for the Corona patients will be transferred to the care of other patients who need the medicine - lymphoma and leukemia patients, who receive an innovative treatment in genetic engineering called CAR-T.
In a directive sent by Dr. Vered Ezra, head of the medical division, it was clarified that “whenever there is a shortage of actmara and difficulty in supply - corona patients should not be treated in actamra.
The existing inventory in hospitals that do not perform the T-CAR procedure should be routed to the benefit of the hospitals where this procedure is performed. "
In patients with arthritis the guideline is to change the treatment to patients who receive the drug by infusion, and if possible also to those who receive the treatment by injection.
The guidelines also state that Roche, the manufacturer of Actmara, sent a notice stating that there is an expectation of a global shortage, including in Israel, of Actmara.
The stock available in Israel for intravenous use is very limited, and for the use of an injection it exists - but its quantity is also limited.
The global shortage is expected by the end of 2021.
