Labour Fails On It's Cancer Drug Pledge

THOUSANDS of cancer patients are dying each year because they are still not getting the drugs Labour promised them, it was claimed last night.

Almost 18 months after a pledge to widen the drugs offered to NHS patients following a national outcry, not one has been fully endorsed.

The Government’s rationing body, The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, has flatly refused one in four new drugs for NHS use.

And 15 have been only partially ­recommended, meaning only ­certain patients will qualify for treatment under NICE’s strict criteria.

The data, uncovered by the Conservatives, deals a blow to Gordon Brown who wants to make cancer care a ­priority issue in the General Election.

He has promised that sufferers will get free one-to-one care and that every cancer patient will receive their test results within a week.

But the Conservatives say his words ring hollow when new cancer drugs are being turned down, while many other medicines widely offered to patients abroad are often denied on the NHS.

They say that UK patients are less likely to receive 19 out of 21 new cancer drugs than patients across Europe. Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said: “It is unforgiveable that thousands of cancer sufferers in ­England die each year because they are not given the drugs that they need when we spend over a hundred billion pounds a year on the NHS.”

Sir Andrew Dillon, chief executive of NICE, said: “We recommend the use of most (85 per cent) of the new drugs we look at.

“It’s wrong to recommend the use of treatments where the additional benefit is uncertain.

“This is misleading for patients and wastes scarce NHS resources.

“Drugs which extend life at the end of life are very important and, since ­January 2009, we have given special weight to them.

“Of the 14 anti-cancer treatments NICE has appraised since November 2008, nine have been recommended for use in the NHS.”

That year the Government made a landmark declaration: “From today there will be greater clarity, greater fairness and, most importantly, greater access to a wider range of drugs.”

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