Post by Deanne Jenkyns on Aug 7, 2008 18:03:15 GMT 1
Another Bloody Crime Commited by NICE!
People suffering from advanced kidney cancer are to be denied four drugs on the NHS because they are too expensive.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) issued draft guidance rejecting the drugs Sutent (sunitinib), Avastin (bevacizumab), Nexavar (sorafenib) and Torisel (temsirolimus).
Charities have expressed outrage at the decision, saying it left patients only one treatment option, interferon, to which many do not respond.
Professor John Wagstaff from the South Wales Cancer Institute said there was "no point" in him accepting referrals for people with advanced kidney cancer as around 75 per cent of them "do not gain any real benefit" from interferon.
The draft guidance, which is subject to appeal, rejects the drugs, saying they are not cost effective for patients with advanced and/or metastatic kidney cancer.
The medicines do not cure the cancer but extend a person's life by a matter of months.
Patients already on the therapies should continue until they and their doctors consider it appropriate to stop, the guidance said.
Every year, up to 7,000 people in the UK are diagnosed with kidney cancer.
Of these, around 1,700 patients will be diagnosed with advanced kidney cancer and at any one time around 3,600 people are living with the advanced form.
Professor Peter Littlejohns, clinical and public health director at Nice, said: "The decisions Nice has to make are some of the hardest in public life.
"NHS resources are not limitless and Nice has to decide what treatments represent best value to the patient as well as the NHS.
"Although these treatments are clinically effective, regrettably, the cost to the NHS is such that they are not a cost-effective use of NHS resources."
Prof Wagstaff said: "The possibility that we clinicians may be prevented from offering Sutent to our patients is an outrage and a devastating blow to the kidney cancer community.
"If this draft guidance is not overturned, there will be no point in me accepting referrals of patients with metastatic renal cell cancer as three quarters of patients do not gain any real benefit from interferon, leaving only the option of palliative care.
"This decision will mean that the UK will have the poorest survival figures for metastatic renal cell cancer in Europe.
"Sutent produces a remarkable effect on survival for patients. It is now no longer ethical or reasonable for patients to have access to treatment with only interferon."
Broadcaster James Whale, who lost a kidney to cancer in 2000, said the guidance would "mean an early death sentence for many" if it was not revised.
People suffering from advanced kidney cancer are to be denied four drugs on the NHS because they are too expensive.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) issued draft guidance rejecting the drugs Sutent (sunitinib), Avastin (bevacizumab), Nexavar (sorafenib) and Torisel (temsirolimus).
Charities have expressed outrage at the decision, saying it left patients only one treatment option, interferon, to which many do not respond.
Professor John Wagstaff from the South Wales Cancer Institute said there was "no point" in him accepting referrals for people with advanced kidney cancer as around 75 per cent of them "do not gain any real benefit" from interferon.
The draft guidance, which is subject to appeal, rejects the drugs, saying they are not cost effective for patients with advanced and/or metastatic kidney cancer.
The medicines do not cure the cancer but extend a person's life by a matter of months.
Patients already on the therapies should continue until they and their doctors consider it appropriate to stop, the guidance said.
Every year, up to 7,000 people in the UK are diagnosed with kidney cancer.
Of these, around 1,700 patients will be diagnosed with advanced kidney cancer and at any one time around 3,600 people are living with the advanced form.
Professor Peter Littlejohns, clinical and public health director at Nice, said: "The decisions Nice has to make are some of the hardest in public life.
"NHS resources are not limitless and Nice has to decide what treatments represent best value to the patient as well as the NHS.
"Although these treatments are clinically effective, regrettably, the cost to the NHS is such that they are not a cost-effective use of NHS resources."
Prof Wagstaff said: "The possibility that we clinicians may be prevented from offering Sutent to our patients is an outrage and a devastating blow to the kidney cancer community.
"If this draft guidance is not overturned, there will be no point in me accepting referrals of patients with metastatic renal cell cancer as three quarters of patients do not gain any real benefit from interferon, leaving only the option of palliative care.
"This decision will mean that the UK will have the poorest survival figures for metastatic renal cell cancer in Europe.
"Sutent produces a remarkable effect on survival for patients. It is now no longer ethical or reasonable for patients to have access to treatment with only interferon."
Broadcaster James Whale, who lost a kidney to cancer in 2000, said the guidance would "mean an early death sentence for many" if it was not revised.
LC charity Ball
? The cancer drugs are 1% of the total NHS costs despite the media hype that they would prove a huge drain on the NHS budget! These people who are sick and their worried familes shouldn't have this to cope with-its enough to get through the days sometime! I am so cross!!!