Chinese Premier Li Keqiang recently called for increased production and supply of affordable domestic medicine for the country’s leukemia patients, www.gov.cn reported on Nov. 20.

“Insufficient supply of such medicine will be another heavy blow to families suffering from leukemia,” the Premier said, adding that relevant departments should take effective measures to increase the drug supply.

Li urged related departments to launch a special effort to tackle the issue and submit progress reports.

The severe shortage has brought the price of the tablets from 40 yuan to 148 yuan a bottle. Because of limited supply, many parents have chosen to buy overseas medicines that can cost up to 1,400 yuan a bottle, according to reports.

“Mercaptopurine” tablets, a drug used for acute lymphoid leukemia in children, has been out of stock for months in many places across the country.

Low profits and scarce raw materials are the main reasons for the shortage, an industry insider explained. Though pharmaceutical companies and franchises in some provinces are required to guarantee the supply, their efforts have been unable to solve the problem.