The Prostate Cancer Charity has welcomed the National Institute
for Health and Clinical Excellence's (NICE) draft decision to
recommend that denosumab be made available for men with advanced
prostate cancer which has spread to the bone on the NHS throughout
the UK.
Owen Sharp, Chief Executive of The Prostate Cancer Charity,
said:
"This draft decision is good news for men with prostate cancer
and sends an encouraging message to men in the final stages of the
disease that their needs have not been forgotten.
"This treatment is key in helping to minimise the risk of
complications once prostate cancer has spread to a man's bones.
Although it will not extend lives, this simple injection gives
these men the chance of a much better quality of life. We commend
NICE for provisionally recommending that this treatment be made
widely available.
"Men with advanced prostate cancer have recently faced a
string of bitter disappointments as other new treatments which
could extend and improve their lives have not been made available
on the NHS, most noticeably, breakthrough end of life drug
abiraterone. We strongly hope that this positive news paves
the way for NICE to reverse its draft decision not to provide
access to abiraterone on the NHS in England and Wales, as a first
step towards the drug being made available to all men who need it
on the NHS throughout the UK."