Medicines body approves new drugs for cancer patients

● But breast cancer treatment rejected as too expensive

Scottish patients will be the first in the UK to benefit from a new kidney cancer drug which can extend lives by almost two years.

The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) has approved the new drug cabozantinib for use by the NHS north of the Border – with doctors hailing the move as a “positive step forward”.

The SMC also gave the go ahead for the use of nivolumab, another drug for treating patients with late-stage kidney cancer, expanding treatment options.

But the body rejected calls to approve the breast cancer treatment, Perjeta, for the third time.

Karenmcnee,ofkidneycancer Scotland, said: “To say the approval of these two drugs is wonderful news is a huge understatement. This is massive news for those patients who have been told their treatments are failing and there are no options.

“Nivolumab is an immunotherapy drug which essentially uses the body’s immune system to kill the cancerous cells. This is a relatively novel way of treating cancers and this is the first immunotherapy drugs to be approved in Scotland for kidney cancer.

“Cabozantinib has seen patients’ survival rates improve and the toleration of the drug offer a leap in reduced side-effects, delivering a far better quality of life.

“These are ground-breaking, life-extending treatments and to have both approved literally means the world to those who will receive them.”

Kidney cancer is the seventh most common cancer in the UK, with around 12,000 cases diagnosed each year – the equivalent of 33 people a day.

Biotech company Ipsen said trials of cabozantinib had shown it to extend the median overall survival of patients by 21.4 months, and more than 50 patients in Scotland have already benefited from having the drug as part of an early access programme.

The SMC said Perjeta is “very expensive” and it does not believe it would be a “good use of limited NHS resources”.

With the drug already available to patients in England, campaigners branded the decision “bitterly disappointing”.

Manufacturers Roche say Perjeta can extend the life of patients with advanced breast cancer by almost 16 months.