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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)
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)
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