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NHS Patients Will Be Denied Wonder Drug for Two Years

Posted on: Thursday, 22 September 2005, 21:00 CDT

A ONE-A-DAY pill that prolongs the lives of lung cancer sufferers is launched today, but NHS patients may have to wait two years for it.

Tarceva can be taken at home and has been shown to give patients with advanced lung cancer an extra three months of life on average.

In tests, one-year survival rates increased by 43 per cent and there were few side-effects.

It is estimated that 7,500 patients a year could benefit from taking the drug but many will not live long enough to see it win approval for widespread use in the NHS.

This is because Tarceva is not likely to be considered for approval by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) until 2007.

The independent body is responsible for 'rationing' new treatments by deciding whether they work and offer value for money.

The leading charity Cancer-BACUP this week criticised NICE for the length of time it takes to approve cancer drugs, of which there are currently 23 in the pipeline.

Doctors are often prepared to prescribe drugs before they get NICE approval but local health trusts often refuse to foot the bill in the case of Tarceva, Pounds 2,000 a month.

NICE blames Government funding cuts of Pounds 3.5million for the delays.

The European Medicines Agency has granted a Europewide licence for Tarceva to be used by patients with nonsmall cell lung cancer who have failed on at least one prior chemotherapy treatment. An international trial published in July showed the drug significantly boosted survival rates, as well as reducing symptoms such as breathlessness, pain and coughing.

Professor Stephen Spiro, of University College London Hospitals, and chairman of the UK's largest clinical trial group for Tarceva, said: 'The survival benefit is significant, with people on the treatment gaining around three extra months of life compared with those who are not.

'Half of patients had an improved quality of life and this matters enormously to people with a very poor prognosis.' Tarceva works by blocking a molecule called the epidermal growth factor receptor, which relays instructions to cells to grow and divide, and to ignore signals telling them to die.

Around 7,500 patients who would otherwise not be offered treatment after surgery could benefit from the new pill, said Professor Spiro.

He added that the Pounds 2,000-amonth cost should be affordable, given there is little else to offer these patients.

Three of the UK's largest private health insurers Bupa, AXA PPP and Standard Life Healthcare have said they will make Tarceva available to qualifying members.

More than 38,000 cases of lung cancer are diagnosed each year in the UK, with more than 80 per cent of patients dying within the first year of diagnosis.

Source: Daily Mail; London (UK)

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