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Postcode Prescribing Hits New Cancer Drug for Men Glasgow Doctors Are Told Prostate Treatment is Not Worth the Money

Posted on: Friday, 1 July 2005, 15:00 CDT

SUFFERERS with the most common form of male cancer are not getting a new drug treatment because postcode prescribing is blocking access to the drugs, surgeons were told in Glasgow.

Each year 30,000 men in Britain are diagnosed with prostate cancer.

Survival rates are high if it is diagnosed in time - but up to 10,000 sufferers die after the disease spreads to the rest of the body, particularly the bones.

Now the British Association of Urology Surgeons has issued guidelines telling doctors to give a new drug to slow bone tumours.

However, Scottish Medicines Consortium, the national association that sanctions the use of pharmaceuticals, has refused to give permission for Zometa as a prostate-busting drug.

The consortium, which already approves the drug for breast cancer, has ruled it is not worth the money needed to treat men with prostate cancer.

This has forced doctors to make deals locally in an effort to get the best treatment for their patients.

Some patients in Glasgow are being prescribed the drug, but there are concerns that many may not be getting it early enough.

Until recently there were no effective treatments for the condition when it spreads beyond the prostate gland.

Hormone therapy can slow the disease but only remains effective for about two years.

A new group of drugs, known as bisphosphonates, can reduce the pain and damage caused by bone tumours and one of these, Zometa, is effective in prostate cancer.

The British Association of Urology Surgeons guideline says bisphosphonate therapy can "reduce risk and/or delay progression".

However, consultant urologist Dr John Anderson told a meeting of the association in Glasgow that doctors will find they cannot follow the best practice guidance because they are not allowed to use the drug.

He said: "They will be compromised.

"These drugs are approved for breast cancer, but not for the same problems in prostate cancer.

"Allweaskisthelevelof care available for men with this disease is the same."

Aswell as slowing the growth of bone tumours, the drug has been found to ease the pain endured by many patients.

Tumours can also cause bones to break for no apparent reason and spinal tumours can compress the spinal cord, causing disability.

Dr David Dodds, of the Beatson Oncology Centre in Glasgow, said some patients in the west of Scotland can get the drug after agreements were reached with local health boards.

He said: "We are able to make the drug available to some patients.

"We can suggest it for patients who have developed fractures as a result of tumours and those suffering from spinal compression.

"We are also able to give the drug to patients who have had a relapse after chemotherapy."

A spokesman for the Scottish Medicines Consortium said: "The consortium approved Zometa for patients with breast cancer and multiple myeloma in May 2003."

He said the consortium did not recommend Zometa for the treatment of patients with advanced prostate cancer because the applicant company, Novartis, failed to provide evidence of its cost effectiveness.

john. mccann@ eveningtimes. co. uk CASESTUDY ARCHIE LEES, 61, of Netherlee, Glasgow, learned in 1998 he had prostate cancer. For years he has called for Zometa to be more available.

He also backs new guidelines that call for better information and support for patients.

Mr Lees was diagnosed at the Southern General Hospital and recalled: "They told me it had spread, that I had a slim chance of a few good years and that I would be referred to the Beatson. That was it."

Once he was referred to the cancer unit in the west end, his condition and treatment were better explained to him.

He said: "They explained the extent of the cancer and what they would do to deal with it.

"I had hormone therapy for five months to reduce the tumour and then radiotherapy every day for six weeks.

"The hormones gave me hot flushes and the radiotherapy felt like burning."

This year Mr Lees, who worked with drinks company Diageo, felt pain in his hip.

He faces more radiotherapy and chemotherapy before doctors decide whether to give him the new drug.

"If people can benefit from a drug and it will ease the pain then they should get it, " he said.

"There is no way a political organisation or some national group should be able to say you can't get the right treatment just because it costs money."

Source: Evening Times; Glasgow (UK)

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