Posted on 07/02/2009 9:05:06 AM PDT by Entrepreneur
Thousands of kidney cancer patients are likely to lose out on life-prolonging drugs.
The NHS rationing body, NICE, has confirmed a ban on three out of four new treatments.
It has reversed its position on just one, Sutent, which will now be allowed for patients with advanced cancer.
But campaigners who fought NICE's original blanket ban said this was not enough. They said some patients with heart problems cannot tolerate Sutent.
Kate Spall, head of the Pamela Northcott Fund campaign group, said the ruling meant that fewer than half of newly diagnosed patients would be eligible for therapy.
She added: 'Families will be denied time together and doctors will be unable to give patients the best treatment.'
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
It would be interesting to know if the UK-banned treatments are approved by the FDA here in America. Banning a ‘treatment’ isn’t necessarily a bad thing if it is quack medicine. Not enough details to make any kind of judgment here as far as I’m concerned.
“NICE” is the agency charged with rationing care? More “war is peace” from the land of Orwell.
There's plenty of information. Read the article...
The rejected drugs - bevacizumab (Avastin), sorafenib (Nexavar) and temsirolimus (Torisel) - have similar costs and are used in other countries.
Kidney cancer patients denied life-saving drugs by NHS rationing body NICE (UK Socialized Medicine)
The Daily Mail ^ | 29th April 2009 | Daily Mail Reporter
The NHS is a marvelous thing, lol
They don’t ban treatments because they’re quck but because they are expensive,
If medicine A is $120 and lets you live 6 months with some pain and treatment B is $500 and lets you live 8 months pain free
They’ll BAN treatment B, even if A won’t work for everyone
Its about cost
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