Prostate cancer charities win appeal over ‘game changer’ drug

PATIENTS with advanced prostate cancer could be given a “game changing” drug after the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence was forced to review a previous decision.

The watchdog had ruled that abiraterone should not be offered to sufferers diagnosed with late-stage prostate cancer because it was not as cost-effective as chemotherapy.

However, an appeal panel yesterday upheld a string of complaints from Janssen, the drug’s manufacturer, as well as prostate cancer specialists and charities.

The panel found that the Nice committee had not taken into account all available evidence, and said it had been “unreasonable” in not considering the impact on patients who for various reasons were often unable to have chemotherapy.

Data from the Stampede clinical trial found that abiraterone as a first-line treatment was able to extend the amount of time men were able to live without their disease coming back.

More recent findings from the trial s howed t hat among t hose with advanced disease, the average survival gain from the drug was two to three years. Charities had criticised the previous ruling on the grounds that those in the late stages of prostate cancer would lose out on this extra time as they could not tolerate chemotherapy, which can have toxic side effects.

The Institute for Cancer Research (ICR) welcomed the about-turn, and said that the drug was a “targeted treatment that attacks cancer cells, rather than indiscriminately”.

It added that abiraterone offered “important benefits” for patients during the Covid-19 pandemic, as it could be taken as a tablet at home, thereby avoiding hospital visits for chemotherapy.

“Around 7,000 men are diagnosed each year with metastatic or advanced prostate cancer,” said Prof Nick James from the ICR.

“At present around one quarter get docetaxel chemotherapy and all of these would probably be better treated with abiraterone.

“Of the remaining three quarters, probably at least half could benefit from abiraterone as well, the remaining quarter being too old or unfit to get much benefit.”

Abiraterone has also been shown to halve the risk of serious complications that can result from other types of therapy, such as bone fractures and spinal problems.