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Hospitals face drug shortages all the time, like the widely used vincristine for childhood cancer.

“He can relapse. The cancer can come back,” said Paz, after a vital round of chemotherapy was delayed by a week in mid-January due to vincristine shortages in his Mexico City hospital.

Paying more would encourage drug companies to prioritize drugs like vincristine, a critical cancer medicine for children that now sells for just $8 a vial.

The drug, vincristine, was produced by both Teva Pharmaceuticals and Pfizer Inc. in the U.S. until July, when the former discontinued making it.

“There is no substitution for vincristine that can be recommended,” Dr. Unguru said.