NICE the overseer & decision maker of which drugs are used within the NHS could possibly do an embarrassing u turn over it’s over the ban on a life-extending drug for kidney cancer.
It is thought the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence will give the go-ahead in the New Year to no less than two drugs presently rated as "too expensive" early.
The expected U turn is a triumph for patients & cancer specialists alike with the possibility of 3,600 people with advanced kidney benefiting from both quality & extended life.
NICE had been at the centre of a massive row earlier this year when it announced plans to refuse four drugs for advanced kidney cancer on the NHS, Avastin, Nexavar, Sutent, and Torisel.
All four drugs are widely available in other countries including EC member states, France, Germany, Spain, with other countries far less wealthy than the UK making them available including Mexico and South Korea, NICE previously said the cost at around £70,000 a year per patient made them too expensive for the NHS.
All four treatments will be revisited at a NICE meeting in January, obviously the fact that weeks can make a difference to a cancer victims chances of survival/longevity or indeed quality of life is apparently lost on these experts??
Nice has suffered criticism in its lack of flexibility in considering the cost effectiveness of drugs that may not cure a cancer patient but could offer a higher quality & extension of life.
Some of the pharmaceutical company’s have previously offered other treatments on a pay on results basis & any final decision by the NICE organisation may hinge on both the price of the drugs/treatments & the drug company’s results based payment schemes being available.
The drug Sutent is regarded by cancer specialists as the biggest breakthrough in kidney cancer treatment in over thirty years extending patients life for upto two years.
Around 7,000 people are diagnosed with kidney cancer in Britain each year. The disease progresses to the advanced stage in around 1,700 cases annually. |
