Cancer expert slams bid to cut NHS drug funding
A SWANSEA cancer expert has attacked plans to block advanced kidney cancer patients being offered four new drugs on the NHS.
Professor John Wagstaff, honorary consultant in medical oncology at the South Wales Cancer Institute, is among a group of 26 British experts who have signed a letter attacking the Government's watchdog.
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John Wagstaff
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) issued draft guidance rejecting the use of Sutent, Avastin, Nexavar and Torisel on cost grounds, leaving only interferon available to medics.
Professor Wagstaff, who is the director of the Wales Clinical Trials Network, said he was already finding it a battle to win cash funding for 14 Swansea-based kidney cancer patients.
In the letter to the Sunday Times, the 26 professors said: "Once again Nice has shown how poorly it assesses new cancer treatments.
"Its economic formulae are simply not suitable for addressing cost-effectiveness in this area of medicine.
"It is essential that Nice gets its sums right.
"We have already seen distraught patients remortgaging their house, giving up pensions and selling cars simply to buy drugs that are freely available to those using health services in countries of comparable wealth.
"We now spend similar amounts to Europe on health generally and cancer care in particular, but less than two thirds of the European average on cancer drugs."
Although the medicines cannot cure the disease, they are able to prolong the lives of patients, who have advanced forms of kidney cancer, by months.
Findings show the average survival for patients taking Sutent was 28 months, which is twice as long as interferon.
Professor Wagstaff said although the guidance had not come into force, Local Health Boards (LHBs) had already tightened up their funding of such treatment.
He added: "For many years, for the majority of patients with kidney cancer there really isn't any treatment for them at all because chemotherapy doesn't work and the only drug that has had any effect — interferon — only benefits about a quarter of patients.
"It was hard enough to get funding from LHBs before Nice made this decision.
"Although it is only preliminary guidance, LHBs are already quoting it in refusing funding for these treatments."
Andrew Dillon, chief executive of Nice said the draft proposal had been made by an independent appraisal committee whose membership is largely drawn from NHS clinicians in active practice. "They understand the issues at stake," he added.
Comments
by Steven Taylor, Swansea
Wednesday, August 27 2008, 7:37PM
“I find it a totally intolerable concept that an institution such as (NICE) can have the audacity to limit drugs to kidney cancer sufferers on the grounds of cost. We only have to realize it is probably a politically based scenario as to who benefits most from pharmaceutical drugs revenue. Who are these so called governmental entrepreneuers juggling their finacial capital at the cost of human life. Someone wants to point out to them if the drugs Sutent,Avastin, Nexavar and Torisel were more freely available by reducing there cost, in no time at all their profit margin would become greater. Funding overall for the NHS has been allowed to be done by people who are profit seeking marginalists. We as a country are allowing the dimise of our health service by changing patient care to become customer based. Is it not time we stopped playing russian roulette with patients lives and got back to the concept of carng properly for patients. It was probalby our countries scientific academically educated progeny who greatly contributed to the discovery of the drugs in question. Please! do not tell me that this was all done on their behalf from an opportunistic endeavour. As for the continents health service being better than ours with concern these drugs. It must be a forgone conclusion as at one time patients from the continent were allowed to come to our country for medical treatmeat. (cost) that"s a joke. I don't suppose we have learn't yet and the cost is even pushing our care over seas.”