media: Ontario wants independent probe into diluted cancer drugs

media

TORONTO - "Ontario will appoint an independent third party to review how watered down chemotherapy drugs were given to more than 1,100 patients, some for as long as a year, Premier Kathleen Wynne said Thursday. “It’s unacceptable that this should have happened, that the doses would not have been accurate,” said Wynne (premier of province).....

" The five hospitals are contacting affected patients to arrange quick appointments with their oncologists. Family members of Ontario patients who died are also being contacted."

"Health Canada, the provincial governments, Cancer Care Ontario and the Ontario College of Pharmacists are investigating. The hospitals are also conducting their own probes."

"Since hospitals buy the drugs, Cancer Care Ontario (Sawka) doesn’t know how many of them mix the drugs themselves or have it done off site, she said."

'" The supplier, Marchese Hospital Solutions, suggested the problem wasn’t how the drugs were prepared, but how they were administered at the hospitals."