Nearly 1,000 cancer patients in Ontario were not given enough chemotherapy drugs in the last year due to a mislabelling error, according to Cancer Care Ontario.

The provincial agency issued a news release Tuesday afternoon saying four hospitals in Ontario gave patients lower than intended doses of chemotherapy between February 2012 and March 2013.

The four hospitals that administered the doses are Peterborough Regional Health Centre, Lakeridge Health, Windsor Regional Hospital and London Health Sciences Centre.

In total 990 patients are affected.

The chemotherapy drugs that were incorrectly administered are cyclophosphamide and gemcitabine, both of which are used to treat a number of cancers, including cancers of the breast and lung. Patients who require treatment for bladder and pancreas cancer are often treated with gemcitabine. Patients who have been diagnosed with leukemia or lymphoma are typically administered cyclophosphamide.

Both were produced and labelled by the same supplier who sold the medication to local hospitals.

Officials with the agency and the affected hospitals are working with the supplier to determine how the error took place.

Discovered in March

The problem was discovered in March 2013 by a technician working at the Peterborough hospital.

Gass couldn't say what led to the technician making the discovery.

Once the hospitals realized the mistake, they immediately took the medication off their shelves and contacted the supplier, according to the agency.

The hospitals now have the appropriate dosage in hand to treat patients. Cancer Care Ontario says the patients' treatment cycle will not be interrupted.

Meanwhile, affected patients are being asked to discuss the possible effects of underdosage with their oncologists.

Most of the affected patients -- about 665 people -- were treated in London, Ont. since March 1, 2012. Windsor Regional Hospital underdosed 290 patients since Feb. 24, 2012.

Lakeridge Health undertreated 34 patients since March 12, 2013 and only one patient was affected in Peterborough since March 20, 2013.

Health minister reacts

The province’s top health official says she is taking the discovery very seriously.

Speaking with CP24 Tuesday night, Health Minister Deb Matthews said the key priority currently is to identify those who may be impacted.

“The most important thing is that we contact the patients who were affected,” she said.

Matthews, who said she only learned of the issue

 

 

 

 

 

over the weekend, said the next step will be identifying what caused the mislabelling to occur.

“We need to understand what happened and what we have to do to make sure that it does not happen again,” she said. “People with cancer are going through enough already - they don’t need to deal with this kind of uncertainty.”

Asked what the province would do if it was discovered that the underdosing was done as a cost-savings measure, Matthews said all options were being explored.

“We have one of the highest cancer survival rates in the world,” she said. “It’s important that everyone in the entire chain of care is providing excellent, excellent care.”

@SandieBenitah is on Twitter. For instant breaking news, follow @cp24 on Twitter.