Cancer patients denied life-extending drug.Summary: People with advanced liver cancer Liver Cancer Definition Liver cancer is a relatively rare form of cancer but has a high mortality rate. Liver cancers can be classified into two types. will be denied a new drug on the NHS NHS abbr. National Health Service NHS (in Britain) National Health Service , under the latest draft guidance. People with advanced liver cancer will be denied a new drug on the NHS, under the latest draft guidance. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) said the price being charged by pharmaceutical firm Bayer for the medicine was "simply too high". However, cancer charities have said it is a "scandal" that patients are being refused the only drug that has been shown to extend their lives. Nexavar (also called sorafenib) is not a cure but has the potential to help people live longer, typically by six months. Bayer, which offered a patient access scheme where the company would provide every fourth packet for free, said it will appeal against the decision. The drug is suitable for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC HCC Hepatocellular Carcinoma (liver cancer) HCC Hertfordshire County Council (administrative region of south eastern England UK) HCC Harford Community College (Maryland) ), which occurs when the cancer tumour originates in the liver rather than spreading there from elsewhere in the body. The only hope of a cure is surgery but very few patients are eligible for this. More than 3,000 people in the UK are diagnosed with liver cancer every year and more than 3,200 die from the disease. Only around 20 per cent of patients are alive one year after diagnosis, dropping to 5 per cent after five years. Andrew Dillon, chief executive of Nice, said: "We were disappointed not to have been able to recommend the use of sorafenib but after carefully considering all the evidence, including the proposed patient access scheme in which the manufacturer offered to provide every fourth pack free, sorafenib does not provide enough benefit to patients to justify its high cost." Mike Hobday Hobday is a surname, and may refer to:
This page or section lists people with the surname Hobday. , head of campaigns at Macmillan Cancer Support The creator of this article, or someone who has substantially contributed to it, may have a conflict of interest regarding its subject matter. It may require cleanup to comply with Wikipedia's content policies, particularly neutral point of view. , said: "It is a scandal that the only licensed drug proven to significantly prolong the lives of people with this devastating disease has been rejected, leaving them with no treatment options. "It's time to rethink the way new cancer drugs are assessed to ensure fairer access to drugs for people with rarer cancers." Independent Television News Limited 2009. All rights reserved. Independent Television News Limited 2009. All rights reserved. Provided by Syndigate.info an Albawaba.com company |
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