NHS Scotland again refuses to supply ‘extremely effective’ treatment

KATRINE BUSSEY

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

Perjeta, which is also known as pertuzumab, can extend the life of patients with advanced breast cancer by almost 16 months, according to manufacturers Roche.

Single mother Alison Tait, from Edinburgh, has been receiving the drug thanks to medical insurance, but is now frightened for her future.

She said: “My health insurance company has agreed to fund the drug for a year but I’m not sure what will happen after this point. It’s frightening. Being there for my daughter Ellen is everything to me. The SMC’s decision to decline Perjeta is a huge blow for women like me – and it has massive implications for me and my family.

“I know that nothing in life is a sure thing but I deserve the chance to live. How can the

SMC and Roche put a price on my life like this?”

SMC chairman Dr Alan MacDonald said: “Unfortunately the committee was unable to accept pertuzumab for routine use.

“We know this decision will be disappointing to patients and their families as we understand how devastating breast cancer can be. However, when we make our decisions we have to take account of the needs of all patients who require treatment by NHS Scotland, not just those who would benefit from the medicine under consideration.”

Nicolas White, head of Breast Cancer Care Scotland, said: “This short-sighted decision denies women and men in Scotland living with incurable breast cancer the chance of an extra year to live. Those recently diagnosed who could have had this treatment will be heartbroken by today’s news.

Pharmaceutical firm Roche UK insisted it had done “everything in its power” to make the drug cost effective for NHS Scotland.

More than 4,500 Scots are diagnosed with breast cancer every year – with some 15 per cent of them suffering from the aggressive HER2 positive form of the disease, which can be treated with Perjeta.