24/08/2010

Cancer Drug Too Expensive For NHS

Campaigners say they have been let down after a health watchdog refused a life saving drug for bowel cancer to be available on the NHS.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) rejected Roche's drug Avastin (bevacizumab), which can help patients with advanced bowel cancer, claiming it was too expensive.

Avastin costs £20,800 per patient and an estimated 6,500 might be eligible for the drug.

Barbara Moss, a 55 year old teacher from Worcester who paid for her own treatment, said that she was "living proof" Avastin works.

Mrs Moss received two treatments of Avastin, and her tumour shrank to half its size.

She said: "It seems immoral to me that, as a result of negative NICE decisions like this one, people's choice of living or dying depends on whether they can afford a drug, because it isn't available to them on the NHS."

Sir Andrew Dillon, Chief Executive of NICE said: "We have recommended several treatments for various stages of colorectal cancer, including cetuximab for the first-line treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer. We are disappointed not to be able to recommend bevacizumab as well but we have to be confident that the benefits justify the considerable cost of this drug."

(CD/GK)

Related UK National News Stories
Click here for the latest headlines.

23 April 2014
Nice To Block New Breast Cancer Drug
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) is moving to block a new breast cancer drug because it said it is not effective enough to justify the price the NHS is being asked to pay. The clinical trial results allegedly show that women on Kadcyla treatment survived 30.9 months. compared with 25.
04 February 2009
Kidney Cancer Drug Given Green Light
A drug, which prolongs the life of kidney cancer sufferers, has been given the go-ahead for patients in England and Northern Ireland, in a U-turn move. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) - the NHS drugs watchdog - published revised guidance on the drug Sutent (sunitinib).
14 June 2004
NHS plan set to end cancer drug 'postcode lottery'
The government has set out plans to tackle the 'postcode lottery' over access to treatment including cancer drugs. A report by the National Cancer Director, Professor Mike Richards, shows "unacceptably high" variations across the country in the uptake of cancer drugs approved by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE).
21 August 2006
Ruling on bowel cancer drug attacked
A ruling that will refuse treatment on the NHS with two bowel cancer drugs has been attacked by both cancer patients and charities.
08 August 2011
Cancer Survivors 'Should Exercise', Charity Claims
More than a million cancer survivors could be putting themselves at risk of long-term health problems because they are not physically active enough, a report by Macmillan Cancer Support has claimed. The charity's report, Move More, said that of the two million cancer survivors in the UK, around 1.