Charity Organizations Condemn National Health Service England for Axing Cancer Medicines

Charity organization have said the decision by National Health Service (NHS) in England to strike a dozen medicines off the list that the Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) will pay for is a big blow for patients suffering from these life threatening diseases. The Rarer Cancers Foundation, a national cancer charity whose mission is to ensure that people with rarer cancers have access to the best services, said 5,500 NHS cancer patients who might have benefited from the expensive medicines will no longer have the chance.

Medications that will no longer be available on the NHS include drugs for breast cancer, multiple myeloma, bowel cancer, pancreatic cancer, cervical cancer and leukaemia.

Lady Delyth Morgan, the chief executive of Breast Cancer Now, called it a dreadful day for breast cancer patients.

“Kadcyla is a one-of-a-kind drug proven to extend life, and the fact is that because government, the NHS and the pharmaceutical industry have failed to agree realistic prices for new drugs, some women will die sooner,” she said.

She also said that today’s delisting will reduce the NHS’s ability to keep pace with Europe in the treatment of breast cancer.

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Source-Medindia