"Eight cancer drugs to be denied on NHS"

Thousands of cancer patients will be denied NHS drugs following a decision to withdraw funding for at least eight life-extending treatments.



Medication which offers a last chance to patients with breast, prostate and bowel disease will no longer be funded by the NHS, under plans to cut spending.

Ahead of the last election, the Conservatives pledged to introduce a Cancer Drugs Fund so that cancer patients were no longer denied drugs on the grounds of cost.

But the £200m fund, introduced in 2011, has overspent its budget, despite the fact it was increased to £280m, leading to a review of 25 drugs which are used in 42 treatments.

On Monday, NHS England is due to announce how many of the drugs will be “delisted” so that they are not routinely funded by the NHS.

But details have emerged of eight cancer treatments which are expected not to be funded, sparking outrage from doctors and charities.

The treatments include six drugs for breast cancer – Halaven, Avastin, Kadcyla, Afinitor, Tyverb and Perjeta.

They also include Jevtana - the only treatment for hormone resistant advanced prostate cancer, after chemotherapy – and Zaltrap, a drug used for bowel cancer drug that can extend life after a tumour has spread. The two latter drugs have been requested for NHS funding for 2,000 patients in the last 18 months, while the breast cancer drugs have been funded around 3,000 times in the last year.

On average Jevtana, which costs £22,000 a year, extends life by an average of three months. However, some cases have survived far longer, including that of Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi who lived two and a half years after being given the drug.

Danni Manzi (pictured above with David Cameron), head of policy at Breast Cancer Care charity, said: “This re-evaluation process is a warning sign that the entire Fund is unravelling.

“We are extremely concerned that breast cancer drugs could be removed.

“It would be soul destroying for many secondary breast cancer patients if they were unable to access these drugs simply due to cost.

Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politic ... n-NHS.html

The NHS is safe in my hands - Camoron!