The NHS in England has widened access to the prostate cancer drug abiraterone, a move expected to save thousands of lives. The treatment, which starves cancer cells of the hormones they need to grow, will now be offered to men who are newly diagnosed and whose disease has not spread beyond the prostate.
Previously, abiraterone was available only to patients with advanced prostate cancer that had spread elsewhere in the body. The change means about 8,000 men each year will become eligible for the drug, and within this group it is projected to reduce deaths from about 1,900 to fewer than 1,000 annually.
Prostate Cancer UK hailed the decision as “momentous” and “life-saving”, noting that it ends a postcode lottery in which men in Scotland and Wales already had access to the drug. Amy Rylance, an assistant director of health improvement at the charity, said: “Until now, men in England have found themselves in an impossible situation. It’s terrifying to be told you’ve got a cancer that’s likely to spread – to then find out you can’t access the treatment that science has proven to be your best chance at surviving is completely devastating.”
The rollout follows a clinical trial led by University College London and the Institute of Cancer Research, which found that abiraterone, given alongside a steroid and standard treatments such as androgen deprivation therapy and radiotherapy, could halve the risk of the cancer returning and reduce the risk of death by 40% in men whose disease had not spread.
Professor Peter Johnson, national clinical director at NHS England, said thousands of men could “kickstart their year with the news that they will have a better chance of living longer and healthier lives”. Health Secretary Wes Streeting said he was “delighted” by the decision, adding that the drug “significantly improves survival rates and can give patients precious extra years of life”.
