Cancer survivor, Deputy Prime Minister Santia Bradshaw, is making a case for access to the brand-name drugs for cancer patients.
She told the House of Assembly on Tuesday there were concerns that Androcur had been removed from the list of drugs accessible to cancer patients and replaced with Cyproterone tablets which has “some side effects”.
“While I appreciate that we have to find alternates, I want us to look at whether we are exploring with the same zeal and zest that we do on other things. The fact that we need to make sure we do get some of the brand-name drugs to our people, and to make sure that where there are the side effects we are getting from the generic drugs, that we perhaps have a conversation with our people to explain or to enlighten them as to whether the drugs are comparable, or whether we can do more to make sure that persons are being able to access what others are accessing across the rest of the world,” she said.
The Member of Parliament for St Michael South East .was speaking on the Barbados Medical Products Bill, 2026, under which a regulatory Barbados Medical Products Authority would be created.
Bradshaw noted that there was a time when Barbados had a far better relationship with the pharmaceutical companies in being able to access those brand-name drugs and those drugs now meant that it could be a bit more expensive.
“It also means that more research has gone into those particular drugs in terms of being able to have the accessibility to our people. While I appreciate and understand that sometimes the generic drugs may often be as effective, I am concerned for the cancer patients,” said Bradshaw, who is Minister of Environment, National Beautification and Fisheries.
Technology was allowing Barbadians to know the type of drugs others were accessing worldwide, while they were being told that only a particular drug was available in Barbados, she told the House.
“I experienced it when I was going through my treatment. Therefore, when I speak, I speak from a place not only as a representative of the people, but I speak from experience because when I was trying to find a regimen that was comparable to the medication I was to receive overseas, I was told quite simply, I would have to take what is available on the market, and I was not going to have access to the drugs that were available overseas.
“Now, I may have been fortunate, and I give thanks to the Almighty Father every day for being able to have the opportunity to go there, but I never forget the people I have lost along the way that also had to settle for things that were, I won’t say inferior, but were not the same,” Bradshaw stated.
She said she had a responsibility to be the voice to make sure that every Barbadian has the opportunity to have access to the best quality medication and the best quality care.
“I will continue to be able to advocate for that as long as the Almighty has given me life . . . . I know there are many moving parts, so it is not to say I don’t know that we aren’t spending millions of dollars to upgrade the system. I’ve heard those speeches before, but I speak from a place that there are ordinary people with simple questions about the type of drugs that are being administered, and whether they are comparable to what others are taking or what is available on the market. “I think we need to move with the same aggression to ensure that those conversations are picked back up with the relevant companies, to make sure we have a diet available to our people that allows them the comfort to know that we have done all that we can to make sure we save lives.”
She also questioned whether the creation of the authority as prescribed under the proposed legislation had the requisite capacity.
“I would hope that the minister and her team have thought through very carefully the increased capacity that is going to be required in terms of persons to manage and to inspect, and to make sure all of these operations that now exist, that other honourable members have spoken to, parading that they have medication that can cure all kinds of illnesses, that we have the necessary resources to ensure that that oversight in that agency is adequate for what lies ahead,” the Deputy Prime Minister added. (AC)
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