7,000 men denied prostate drug on NHS over cash row
A LIFE-EXTENDING prostate cancer drug has been denied to 7,000 men because it is not deemed to be ‘value for money’.
Abiraterone has been hailed as one of the greatest achievements in the NHS’s 70-year history for its success in treating advanced prostate cancer.
Costing £2,700 a month, it is one of the few drugs available to men with very advanced tumours and has doubled average survival times.
But it has been rejected by Nice, in draft guidance, due to a lack of evidence over whether it was more effective than existing treatments.
The rationing body also said it couldn’t guarantee that the drug offered ‘value for money’ for the NHS.
Cancer doctors and charities said the decision was ‘concerning’ and ‘disappointing’ and urged Nice to review the very latest evidence. The drug could have been offered to up to 7,000 men in England a year with an aggressive form of the cancer which has spread to organs such as the liver, kidneys and bones.
A major French study last year involving 1,200 men showed that it doubled average survival times.
Men given abiraterone lived for an average of 33 months, compared to 14.5 months if they were given hormone treatment.
But the issue is complicated because men in the UK with this type of prostate cancer are given hormone treatment and chemotherapy. As the French study did not compare abiraterone with chemotherapy, Nice cannot determine whether it is better.
Doctors who have been trialling it for several years are certain it is more effective than chemotherapy and causes far fewer side effects.
And many men cannot tolerate chemotherapy, particularly if they are frail or more susceptible to its side effects. Professor Paul Workman, chief executive of The Institute of Cancer Research, London, said: ‘Abiraterone has been a game- changer for treatment of prostate cancer, extending the lives of men with the disease, and crucially sparing them the sideeffects of chemotherapy.
‘I am disappointed that men with advanced prostate cancer will not be able to access abiraterone as a first-line treatment. It is particularly concerning that some men who are ineligible for the current first-line treatment, docetaxel (a type of chemotherapy), should be denied access to abiraterone.
‘I would urge Nice to consider availability of the drug for these patients as a matter of urgency.’
Tim Windle, of Prostate Cancer UK, said: ‘For some men diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer, treatment with abiraterone alongside hormone therapy has been shown to have impressive results. It is therefore disappointing that this draft decision from Nice is not to approve its use for any of this group.
‘Currently the best treatment available at this stage is chemotherapy alongside hormone therapy, which some men, through no fault of their own, are unable to tolerate. It’s imperative that these men are able to access abiraterone as an alternative.’
A Nice spokesman said: ‘We
‘Imperative that men can have it’
understand that some men with prostate cancer will be disappointed by this news.
‘However, we can only recommend drugs that are clinically effective and show value for money compared to current treatment options. In this case, abiraterone has fallen short.’
For nearly two decades the Daily Mail has campaigned to raise awareness of prostate cancer, once called the ‘forgotten disease.’ Last month the Prime Minister praised our work and pledged to invest £75million in earlier diagnosis.