Kidney cancer drugs to be funded

The Welsh health minister has announced kidney cancer patients in Wales will be able receive four life-prolonging drugs on the NHS.

Edwina Hart has told all 22 Welsh local health boards to fund the drugs, although they have not yet been approved for use here or in England.

It is thought prescribing the drugs Sutent, Nexavar, Avastin and Torisel will cost �600 a week per patient.

There has been a long campaign by patients for NHS funding for the drugs.

The National Institute for health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) was expect to approve the four drugs for approval at a meeting this month, but new guidance is now expected in March.

Mrs Hart said: "At the end of last year, NICE announced that in the future they would apply different financial criteria for drugs used towards the end of life, and the drugs used for advanced kidney cancer might reasonably come into this category.

I have decided to put it in place in order to allay the anxiety felt by patients and their relatives during this interim period Health Minister Edwina Hart

"This has raised expectations for those patients in whom the drugs are currently not available through the NHS.

"I think it is unacceptable for these patients to be kept waiting any longer and I am instructing local health boards to provide these drugs for kidney cancer to appropriate patients with immediate effect.

She said she was including a proviso that each request for funding for the life-prolonging drugs is supported by two cancer specialists.

The minister also confirmed it was a temporary arrangement.

"I have decided to put it in place in order to allay the anxiety felt by patients and their relatives during this interim period.

Long campaign

Conservative health spokesman Jonathan Morgan AM said he welcome the fact families throughout Wales will now benefit as a result of these drugs being made available.

"The muddle and prevarication over these drugs has gone on for far too long," he said.

There has been a long campaign by kidney cancer patients and their families to get NHS funding for the drugs.

Last month it emerged there were some inconsistencies in prescribing one of the drugs.

A study by the medical director of NHS Wales found some areas approved all applications for Sutent, while some nearly always declined them.

The health minister ordered a clinical audit of each case to ensure consistent criteria were applied.

Cancer patients and their families should not have to spend the last few months of their lives campaigning for access to drug Cath Lindley, Macmillan Cancer Support

Out of 73 requests for the drug, 48 patients had it rejected.

"Kidney cancer is a devastating disease with few treatment options available but drugs such as Sutent and Avastin can give some patients extra time and a better quality of life which is extremely precious to patients and their families," said Macmillan Cancer Support's general manager for Wales Cath Lindley.

"Cancer patients and their families should not have to spend the last few months of their lives campaigning for access to drugs. We hope this now adds further weight in persuading NICE to approve the drugs so that cancer patients get treatment based on their need and not on where they live."

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