“The Drug was Meant to Save Children’s Lives. Instead, They’re Dying.”
The Bureau of Investigative Journalism
Awarded with Rosa Furneaux
In this investigative piece, Rosa Furneaux and Laura Margottini report on the global spread of substandard doses of the chemotherapy drug asparaginase, which is used to treat acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), one of the most common pediatric cancers. Since asparaginase was introduced in the 1960s, the five-year survival rate for children with ALL has risen to 90% in wealthy countries. As Furneaux and Margottini report, however, at least a dozen brands of asparaginase sold for use in poorer countries in recent years have been found to be contaminated or do not meet minimum manufacturing quality standards. This has affected an estimated 70,000 children with ALL worldwide. This story led to a number of potentially lifesaving actions on behalf of cancer patients, including the development of a low-cost asparaginase contamination test and investigations by the World Health Organization’s substandard and falsified medical products team.
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