Drug U-turn gives hope to skin cancer patients

SKIN cancer patients have been given a lifeline after a rethink on a drug previously rejected by the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC).

The body yesterday performed a U-turn and approved nivolumab – a life-extending drug – to treat patients with advanced skin cancer.

The SMC had turned it down in March, despite the fact NHS patients in England already had access to it. It has since reviewed additional evidence.

Cancer charities hailed the decision as ‘great news’.

The incidence of melanoma in Scotland has risen by 30 per cent in the past decade – a rate higher than any other type of cancer – and it is estimated around 1,200 are diagnosed with the disease each year.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) approved nivolumab for use in England and Wales in February.

Trials show that almost twice as many advanced melanoma patients treated with nivolumab were alive at one year, compared to those having chemotherapy.

Melanoma can be fatal once it has advanced to a stage where it cannot be surgically removed because it has spread to other parts of the body. In 2014, 1,248 people were diagnosed with a new case of melanoma and 176 died from the disease.

Emlyn Samuel, Cancer Research UK’s senior policy manager, said: ‘Today’s decision is great news for patients in Scotland.

‘This treatment works by helping the patient’s immune system to fight the cancer.’ Gillian Nuttall, founder of Melanoma UK, said the decision would ‘bring new hope for patients who have been waiting for access to this medicine’.

Professor Jeff Evans, director of the Institute of Cancer Sciences at the University of Glasgow, said: ‘Today’s decision… means we can now offer our patients this exciting new medicine.’

Benjamin Hickey, of Bristol-Myers Squibb, the drug’s manufacturer, said: ‘Nivolumab is a game-changing medicine and we are delighted that NHS patients in Scotland will now have it available.’