Cancer drug given green light

Taxol will be made fully available on the NHS

A key drug for ovarian cancer should be made fully available on the NHS, an expert advisory group has told the government.

The widely-predicted ruling on Taxol was made by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice), the body set up last year to end so-called "postcode prescribing" where certain drugs are available only in some areas of the country.

Several hundred women will be diagnosed with the disease next week and they should all have access to this treatment

Professor Gordon McVie, Cancer Research Campaign

It could cost the health service millions of pounds but will end a situation where some cancer patients were receiving the drug and others were deprived of it, depending on where they lived.

The Department of Health has immediately issued fresh advice to health authorities, and says that money is available to fund the drug.

A statement said: "Sufficient resources have been allocated to enable NHS bodies to implement positive recommendations from Nice."

Nice recommends that the drug be given as a routine first therapy for ovarian cancer and also for women who have not previously received it, but whose cancer has recurred or been resistant to other forms of treatment.

Taxol is one of a group of drugs, called taxanes, which have proved highly successful in treating ovarian and breast cancer.

But the drugs are expensive and some health authorities have refused to provide them because of the cost.

Andrew Dillon, chief executive of Nice, said: "The institute's guidance is based on a very careful consideration of the evidence, and I believe that all those involved in cancer services in the NHS will welcome it.

"This guidance is good news for women suffering from ovarian cancer, wherever they live in England and Wales."

Kills cancer cells

About 5,000 women die from ovarian cancer in the UK each year.

Taxol is used during chemotherapy in combination with other drugs in order to destroy cancer cells.

A course of treatment costs about £1,500 and each patient may need up to six courses of the drug.

Nice estimates that this new guidance will cost the health service about £28 million, based on 4,000 patients in England and Wales being deemed suitable for the treatment each year.

Guidance on the use of taxanes for treating breast cancer is expected at the end of June.

Professor Gordon McVie, director general of the Cancer Research Campaign, said: "We are pleased that at long last Nice has caught up with what has been accepted practice in the US and the rest of Europe for years in prescribing taxanes, but we are very disappointed that the guidance on breast cancer has been further delayed.

"The advice for ovarian cancer should be implemented immediately. Several hundred women will be diagnosed with the disease next week and they should all have access to this treatment.

"With the extra money in the budget, health authorities have no excuse to say they cannot afford to fund the treatment."

A spokeswoman for the charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer said: "It is good news that there has been a positive decision on one aspect of the use of taxanes. But the jury is still out on the use of taxanes in relation to breast cancer.

"We hope the uncertainty faced by women will be speedily resolved.

"We are concerned that Nice is taking so long to decide about the use of these drugs for breast cancer."