{"id":54405,"date":"2025-03-14T22:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-14T22:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=54405"},"modified":"2025-03-14T22:30:00","modified_gmt":"2025-03-14T22:30:00","slug":"men-denied-life-extending-prostate-cancer-drug-on-nhs-in-england","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=54405","title":{"rendered":"Men denied life-extending prostate cancer drug on NHS in England"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Hugh Pym and Ian Atkinson<\/span><\/p>\n
BBC News<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Institute of Cancer Research<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Abiraterone tablets can help stop prostate cancer spreading<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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A cancer charity has said it is “angry and frustrated” that ministers and health officials have not approved the provision of a life-extending prostate cancer drug through the NHS in England.<\/p>\n
The drug, abiraterone, has been available in Scotland and Wales for two years for high-risk patients whose cancer has not yet spread, but not in England and Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n
In a letter to Prostate Cancer UK, seen by the BBC, Health Minister Karin Smyth said the decision by NHS England, following a lengthy review, was “based on overall affordability” and that “it would not be appropriate to intervene”. <\/p>\n
The government said urgent advice had been requested on the issue.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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The charity said it was a “dire and urgent situation in England” with “a bureaucratic blockage denying men this treatment”.<\/p>\n
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We understand the frustration and upset of some patients who cannot access this potentially life-saving treatment. Ministers have requested urgent advice on the issue.”<\/p>\n
Although not a cure, abiraterone can help stop prostate cancer spreading to other parts of the body. <\/p>\n
In England and Northern Ireland, the drug is only approved for men with very advanced prostate cancer which has spread already. <\/p>\n
In Wales and Scotland, people with the disease that has not yet spread can also get it.<\/p>\n
Research has shown that for these earlier stage patients, the survival rate after six years is improved and that the drug halved the rate of progression of the cancer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
The charity says many lives could be extended by the drug, given the findings from a trial called Stampede, published in 2022. <\/p>\n
It found improved odds of survival among men given the drug alongside usual care, and concluded that abiraterone should be considered a new standard treatment. <\/p>\n
According to figures from NHS England, each year about 8,400 patients have high-risk prostate cancer that has not yet spread. <\/p>\n
Using the Stampede assumptions, 672 of those men could die prematurely without access to abiraterone.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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In October 2023, BBC News spoke to Giles Turner, a retired banker living in Sussex. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer earlier that year but was told that abiraterone could not be obtained on the NHS in England. <\/p>\n
He chose to pay for treatment with the drug at \u00a3250 a month. He told us then that he felt “very fortunate” to be able to afford it, but outraged for others who could not. <\/p>\n
At the time, NHS England said it was reviewing the drug’s use for a wider range of men. <\/p>\n
However, in December 2024 it told Prostate Cancer UK that “it has not been possible to identify the necessary recurrent headroom in revenue budgets”. <\/p>\n
Because abiraterone is a generic drug which has gone “off patent” and is licensed for only one group of prostate cancer patients, there is a complicated process to get it approved for wider use.<\/p>\n
Each year, NHS England can make “discretionary” investment decisions with a specialist advisory group, but it has chosen not to for this drug. <\/p>\n
Smyth’s letter earlier this month said the process had to look at “the overall budget impact of introducing a new treatment based on patient volumes”, and ministers would not intervene.<\/p>\n
Mr Turner said he was “stunned” that nearly one-and-a-half years after the BBC report, NHS England had not caught up with NHS Scotland and NHS Wales. <\/p>\n
He has spent \u00a320,000 so far on his treatment, and said he felt it was wrong that while expensive new patented drugs treatments could be funded, abiraterone – costing the NHS \u00a377 per pack per month – could not be. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
![\"Institute](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/82ce\/live\/ca231b50-00be-11f0-8b2a-c7cde80a6cf3.png.webp\")
Institute of Cancer Research<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/bbcx\/grey-placeholder.png\")
![\"Giles](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/41ef\/live\/913e4990-00be-11f0-8b2a-c7cde80a6cf3.png.webp\")
Giles Turner<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n