NHS calls on ‘Covid-friendly’ drugs to cut cancer backlog

THE NHS is to roll out “covid-friendly” cancer drugs in an effort to beat the treatment backlog which is putting lives at risk.

Cancer services have been dramatically impacted by lockdown, and the reallocation of health resources for coronavirus. Many patients have seen chemotherapy paused because the treatment is so toxic that it depletes the immune system and puts people at much greater risk from coronavirus.

Now the Government has speeded up approval for state-of-the-art drugs which are far safer for patients and allow cancer treatment to continue.

Sir Simon Stevens, NHS chief executive, today announced £160 million funding for drugs that have a lesser impact on the immune system or offer other benefits such as requiring fewer hospital visits.

Patients may be able to take tablets at home or receive medicines with fewer side-effects instead of undergoing gruelling hospital-based treatment that can leave them more susceptible to coronavirus and other infections.

Sir Simon, said: “We are adopting new, kinder treatment options which are not only effective but safer for use during the pandemic and more convenient for thousands of patients, who can take medication at home or be given medicines with less harmful effects on their immune system.”

Doctors will be able to prescribe drugs such as the target hormone therapy enzalutamide for prostate cancer and lenalidomide in the treatment of myeloma – bone marrow cancer.

The drug Venetoclax can be used in acute myeloid leukaemia and Ixazomib in myeloma as a tablet alternative to standard chemotherapy. Atezolizumab can be used as first-line immunotherapy for bladder cancer.

Charities have consistently warned that cancer patients are being severely affected by the pandemic. Modelling by the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) in May estimated that delays to cancer surgery and other treatment could result in thousands of additional deaths.

The ICR warned that patients whose cancer will have progressed during the delay and who might otherwise have been effectively cured by surgery could be at risk of seeing their cancer come back.

Target Ovarian Cancer said more than half of women with ovarian cancer said their treatment had been impacted by coronavirus.

Cancer Research UK said that by the end of May 2.4 million patients had missed appointments or tests due to Covid-19.