List date(s) this work was published or aired.
8-Jun-11
Provide a brief synopsis of the story or stories, including any significant findings.
A shortage of cancer drugs emerged as a major health story in 2011, yet the problem remained under the radar for the first half of the year. Reuters was the first to take a comprehensive and critical look at the issue, putting it at the top of the country’s health agenda and finding that cheaper generic chemotherapy drugs were particularly in short supply because drug makers have little incentive to make them.
Explain types of documents, data or Internet resources used. Were FOI or public records act requests required? How did this affect the work?
This story mainly relied on information from experts obtained in interviews.
Explain types of human sources used.
Human sources included interviews with physicians in private practice, officials of the American Society of Clinical Oncology and American Cancer Society, pharmacy managers, and representatives of drug makers.
Results:
The story prompted a public response from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which issued a press release documenting its effort to fight the drug shortages. ASCO President Michael Link highlighted it as one of the biggest stories emerging from its annual meeting. The Reuters story dominated health pages of Google, Yahoo and MSNBC, topped the most-read list on Reuters.com and were cited by industry blogs and investor websites including FierceBiotech and Fidelity.
Follow-up (if any). Have you run a correction or clarification on the report or has anyone come forward to challenge its accuracy? If so, please explain.
This story was corrected to fix the affiliation of one of the doctors quoted in the story. The content has not been challenged.
Advice to other journalists planning a similar story or project.
This story came out of an interview that with a physician addressing a different issue entirely. Sometimes it pays to let your sources introduce subjects that are important to them, even if that’s not the focus of your interview.