10 signatures reached
To: NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR HEALTH AND CARE EXCELLENCE
PROSTATE CANCER TREATMENT LOTTERY
Make Enzalutamide, a last chance drug for advanced prostate cancer sufferers, available to patients who have previously been treated with Abiraterone, (cancer drug fund), which has now ceased working. Both drugs are recognized as life extending. Enzalutamide is available in Scotland on NHS without restriction.
Why is this important?
I am effectively living a death sentence. I was lucky to have Abiraterone without first having chemotherapy. This drug gave me a super quality of life for 19 months. Enzalutamide achieves a similar outcome by a different means. For so many those extra few months are all they seek. I am at peace with my situation. NICE in its July 2014 report , Paras 6.1 and 6.2 States it supports the manufacturer's ongoing commitment to collect data on the effectiveness of Enzalutamide after previous treatment with Abiraterone. The Committee considered that if Enzalutamide is used in routine clinical practice for treating Advanced prostate cancer, after Abiraterone, resource use and overall survival data should be collected. How if they have not sanctioned its use in England in these circumstances? The manufacturers have made it available through patient access means. If you can raise the money you can buy the extra time. The disease does not respect national bounderies, neither should the treatment, we are still one United Kingdom!
